Ab­b­Vie sur­veys emo­tion­al im­pact of chron­ic leukemia con­di­tion, finds 'roller coast­er' of emo­tions

Rare dis­eases of­ten have more than just phys­i­cal ef­fects on pa­tients — es­pe­cial­ly when it comes to chron­ic con­di­tions. In the case of the rare slow-grow­ing blood can­cer chron­ic lym­pho­cyt­ic leukemia (CLL), Ab­b­Vie want­ed to try to as­sess the men­tal and emo­tion­al toll on pa­tients.

So it sur­veyed more than 300 CLL pa­tients, care­givers and physi­cians. While each group dif­fered in how they felt — care­givers over­whelm­ing­ly (81%) felt pos­i­tive about their role, for in­stance — pa­tients de­scribed a “roller coast­er” of emo­tions tra­vers­ing di­ag­no­sis to treat­ment to re­mis­sion and even re­lapse for some.

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