{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T19:18:24Z","timestamp":1787944704995,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787875200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Anxiety and depression are among the most common psychological symptoms in patients with cancer and are associated with morbidity and impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL), independent of the cancer stage. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of clinically significant anxiety and depression among adult oncology patients in Iraq and quantify the independent contribution of these symptoms to HRQoL. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between 1 November and 15 December 2024, at the National Oncology Hospital in Najaf, Iraq. A total of 200 adult oncology patients were enrolled using consecutive sampling. Symptoms were measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and HRQoL was measured using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize sample characteristics. Group comparisons were performed using Pearson\u2019s chi-square test, the Fisher\u2013Freeman\u2013Halton exact test with Monte Carlo estimation, and one-way ANOVA, as appropriate. Associations among continuous variables were assessed using Pearson\u2019s correlation and multiple linear regression. Statistical significance was set at p &lt; 0.05. Results: The mean age (SD) was 52.2 (12.0) years, and 64.0% of the participants were male. Severe anxiety and severe depression were observed in 41.0% and 34.0% of the participants, respectively. Anxiety severity was significantly associated with age, sex, marital status, and treatment modality (all p &lt; 0.01) and was significantly higher in females (58.3% vs. 31.2%) and unmarried patients. Depression severity was significantly associated with age (p = 0.005), sex (p &lt; 0.001), and marital status (p &lt; 0.001) but not with cancer stage (p = 0.223) or treatment modality (p = 0.530). The mean total FACT-G score was 58.2 (14.6), indicating low-to-moderate HRQoL. HADS-A and HADS-D were strongly intercorrelated (r = 0.741) and inversely correlated with FACT-G (r = \u22120.750 and r = \u22120.780, respectively; all p &lt; 0.001). Multiple linear regression showed that higher HADS-A and HADS-D scores were independently associated with lower HRQoL, and the full seven-predictor model explained approximately 62% of the variance in FACT-G total scores (R2 = 0.62). Conclusions: Severe anxiety and severe depression were observed in 41.0% and 34.0% of participants, respectively. Higher anxiety and depression scores were independently associated with lower HRQoL.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina62091652","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T18:33:52Z","timestamp":1787942032000},"page":"1652","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression and Their Association with Health-Related Quality of Life Among Oncology Patients in Iraq: A Cross-Sectional Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"62","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7694-7503","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ahmed Lateef Abed","family":"Alkhaqani","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of P\u00e9cs, V\u00f6r\u00f6smarty Mih\u00e1ly Str. 4, 7621 P\u00e9cs, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9011-1112","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mikl\u00f3s","family":"Sug\u00e1r","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of P\u00e9cs, V\u00f6r\u00f6smarty Mih\u00e1ly Str. 4, 7621 P\u00e9cs, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Ammar Mahmood","family":"Jaber","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of P\u00e9cs, V\u00f6r\u00f6smarty Mih\u00e1ly Str. 4, 7621 P\u00e9cs, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Ali Abbas Rahi","family":"Al-Murshedi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of P\u00e9cs, V\u00f6r\u00f6smarty Mih\u00e1ly Str. 4, 7621 P\u00e9cs, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9615-1740","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"D\u00e1vid","family":"Sipos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Diagnostics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of P\u00e9cs, V\u00f6r\u00f6smarty Mih\u00e1ly Str. 4, 7621 P\u00e9cs, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5621-4935","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"N\u00f3ra","family":"Rozmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Emergency Care, Pedagogy of Health and Nursing Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of P\u00e9cs, V\u00f6r\u00f6smarty Mih\u00e1ly Str. 4, 7621 P\u00e9cs, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9551-8440","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bence","family":"Raposa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Basic Health Sciences, Health Visiting and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of P\u00e9cs, V\u00f6r\u00f6smarty Mih\u00e1ly Str. 4, 7621 P\u00e9cs, Hungary"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2026, May 09). 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