This came after the university set up the Wong Chuk Hang-based Jockey Club Institute of Cancer Care in 2018 - the city's first dedicated cancer research center. The center has served over 15,000 patients.

Last year, it set up the SAR's first multidisciplinary cancer clinic to give patients post-therapy support, such as tailor-made diet plans and exercise tips.

The survey, conducted by the university's faculty of medicine, assessed 512 patients from the clinic. It found that 29 percent of the patients had experienced a clinical level of distress.

Of those patients, over half - 52 percent - faced sleep disturbance while 38 percent had neuropathy.

It also found 36 percent had anxiety and 26 percent experienced depressive symptoms.

Among those with severe anxiety or depressive symptoms, 90 percent were deeply worried about a cancer relapse.

All 512 patients had failed at least one of the 13 health indicators, including body mass index, central obesity and cardiovascular fitness.

Over 80 percent said the advice they received from fitness trainers, dietitians and nurses at the clinic could largely address their health concerns.

A male cancer survivor said before being referred to the clinic, his weight dropped 40 pounds.

"It takes three months to see dietitians in public hospitals but the clinic can immediately arrange that," he said, adding: "The dietitians at the clinic helped me gain 22 pounds back."

The university's dean of medicine, Gabriel Leung Cheuk-wai, said: "I hope that before the Jockey Club Institute of Cancer Care moves into Grantham Hospital in 2024, the city's rehabilitation services for cancer patients can be done properly first."

The institute's director Wendy Lam Wing-tak said it was time to change ideas about cancer, cancer patients and their recovery.

"Cancer should be seen as a chronic disease, while cancer patients and survivors should be given long-term and sustained support for a more robust health outlook ," she said.