Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Psychiatry. Oct 19, 2026; 16(10): 122462
Published online Oct 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.122462
Published online Oct 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.122462
Psychological distress in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: Impact on targeted therapy and quality of life
Wen-Jun Chen, Sen-Bang Yao, Zi-Ran Bi, Huai-Dong Cheng, Department of Oncology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230000, Anhui Province, China
Wen-Jun Chen, Sen-Bang Yao, Zi-Ran Bi, Huai-Dong Cheng, Department of Oncology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230000, Anhui Province, China
Wen-Jun Chen, Mao-Xi Chen, Department of Oncology, Anhui Chest Hospital, Hefei 230000, Anhui Province, China
Xue-Yang Hu, Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical Uni
Huai-Dong Cheng, Department of Oncology, Shenzhen Clinical Medical School of Southern Medical University, Shenzhen 518000, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Chen WJ, Cheng HD contributed to conceptualization and design; Hu XY, Yao SB, Chen MX, and Bi ZR contributed to material preparation, data acquisition, and analysis; Chen WJ and Yao SB contributed to writing-draft manuscript and writing-revision and approved to submit the final version.
AI contribution statement: Portions of this manuscript were edited using DeepSeek AI tools solely for language refinement. The authors carefully reviewed and verified all AI-assisted outputs and take full responsibility for the scientific content of the manuscript.
Supported by the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program, No. JCYJ20240813145301002 and No. JCYJ20250604183455074; and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82573690.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the by the Ethics Committee of Anhui Chest Hospital (approval No. K2023-019).
Clinical trial registration statement: The clinical trial is registered at the Clinical Trial.gov (Registration ID: NCT06348940). Details are available at https://clinicaltrials.Gov/study/NCT06348940.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Corresponding author: Huai-Dong Cheng, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Oncology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, No. 678 Furong Avenue, Hefei 230000, Anhui Province, China. chd1975ay@126.com
Received: April 30, 2026
Revised: June 17, 2026
Accepted: July 1, 2026
Published online: October 19, 2026
Processing time: 163 Days and 1.1 Hours
Revised: June 17, 2026
Accepted: July 1, 2026
Published online: October 19, 2026
Processing time: 163 Days and 1.1 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study is the first to demonstrate that psychological distress significantly impairs the efficacy of targeted therapy and quality of life in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Patients without distress showed superior objective response rates, disease control rates, and progression-free survival. Psychological distress is a critical factor affecting treatment outcomes, highlighting the need for routine distress screening and psychological support during non-small cell lung cancer targeted therapy.