Objective  To explore the relationships of perceived social support and ruminant thinking with anxiety and depression in patients with pulmonary nodules.

Methods  A total of 323 patients with pulmonary nodules in Subei People's Hospital and Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University in Yangzhou City were selected as research objects by convenient sampling method, and they were investigated by the Self-rating Anxiety Scale, the Self-rating Depression Scale, the Perceived Social Support Scale and the Ruminant Thinking Scale.

Results  In patients with pulmonary nodules, the perceived social support was negatively correlated with ruminant thinking (r=-0.321, P < 0.01), anxiety (r=-0.370, P < 0.01) and depression (r=-0.336, P < 0.01), while the ruminant thinking was positively correlated with anxiety (r=0.401, P < 0.01) and depression (r=0.392, P < 0.01). Ruminant thinking had a partial mediating effect in perceived social support with anxiety and depression, accounting for 29.32% and 33.23% respectively of the total effect.

Conclusion  Ruminant thinking can regulate the impacts of perceived social support on anxiety and depression in patients with pulmonary nodules. Medical staffs should improve the level of perceived social support and reduce occurrence of ruminant thinking in patients with pulmonary nodules in order to reduce their anxiety and depression degrees.