To understand the cognitive and anxiety status and influencing factors of patients with high-risk pulmonary nodules.

Using a multidisciplinary consultation platform for pulmonary nodules, a self-administered cognitive questionnaire form and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) were used to investigate and analyze high-risk pulmonary nodules.

A total of 712 eligible patients with high-risk pulmonary nodules were included in this survey study. The cognitive survey analysis revealed that 565 cases(79.35%) of patients agreed that chest CT was the main screening tool for lung nodules, 585 cases(82.16%) and 584 cases(82.02%) of patients agreed that long-term smoking was associated with lung cancer development and benign and malignant lung nodules, respectively, 645 cases(90.59%) of patients chose surgery as the main treatment for high-risk lung nodules, and 585 cases(82.16%) of patients used the Internet as the However, the majority of patients still considered pulmonary nodules to be the main treatment. The GAD-7 anxiety score revealed that patients with high-risk pulmonary nodules were generally anxious 684 cases(96.07%), with mild anxiety 292 cases(41.01%), moderate anxiety 240 cases(33.71%), and severe anxiety 152 cases(21.35%), respectively. Patients′anxiety was analyzed for influencing factors, and it was found that patients in the age groups of 41-50 and 51-60 years, female, nodule diameter of 2-3 cm, ground glass nodules, family history of cancer, ≥3 chest CTs in the last 1 year, and ≥3 hospital visits for pulmonary nodules had significantly higher GAD-7 anxiety scores than patients in other groups (P<0.05); while the number of nodules, smoking status were not significantly associated with GAD-7 scores. The number of nodules and smoking status were not significantly associated with GAD-7 scores, while women, age between 51-60, nodule size ≥2 cm, number of chest CTs≥3 times in the last 1 year, and number of visits for pulmonary nodules ≥3 times were risk factors for severe anxiety in patients with high-risk pulmonary nodules.

Patients with high-risk pulmonary nodules still have more deficiencies in their knowledge of pulmonary nodules, and it is recommended that targeted science education be conducted with the help of online platforms; middle-aged, female, larger nodule diameters, and patients with repeated multiple visits are more likely to have anxiety, which requires focused clinical attention and timely guidance.