Longitudinal observation of anxiety and depression among palliative care cancer patients.

Background: Anxiety and depressive symptoms are commonly reported to have a high prevalence in advanced cancer patients. However, whether the severity of the symptoms change during a stay in a palliative care unit (PCU) and after discharge home has not been studied thus far. This prospective, longitudinal, single-center study screened for anxiety and depression as measured on the German version of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D) in a palliative care (PC) cancer cohort at three different time points.