Are Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms Related to Physical Symptoms? A Prospective Study of Patients with Advanced Chronic Disease

Access to increasingly sophisticated medical care over the last century has improved the prevention and treatment of many diseases that had previously been fatal, including pneumonia, tuberculosis, acute and chronic renal failure, some cancers, and myocardial infarction. Despite these important curative advances, insufficient emphasis was initially placed on the importance of relieving symptoms and providing continuing support to patients with limited prognosis of survival. A response to this deficiency was the emergence, in the sixties, of Hospice and Palliative Care movements, which sought to improve the quality of care of terminally ill patients and their families (Saunders, 2004).