Objective: To investigate association between major depressive disorder (MDD) and quality of life in patients with neurological disorder. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out at a Malaysian hospital between April 2016 and December 2016 using convenience sampling. Patients aged ≥18 years with intracranial tumour or other brain disorders were invited to participate. Quality of life was assessed using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life questionnaire version 3.0; diagnosis of MDD was made using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Results: Of 122 patients approached, 100 (66 women and 34 men) were included (response rate, 93.5%), with a mean age of 45.3 years. The prevalence of MDD in patients with neurological disorder was 30%. Compared with non-depressed patients, patients with MDD had poorer global health status / quality of life (p = 0.003), and reduced physical (p = 0.003), role (p = 0.021), emotional (p < 0.001), cognitive (p = 0.004), and social (p = 0.007) functioning, as well as more symptoms of fatigue (p = 0.004), pain (p < 0.001), dyspnoea (p = 0.033), insomnia (p < 0.001), appetite loss (p = 0.002), constipation (p = 0.034), diarrhoea (p = 0.021), and financial difficulties (p = 0.039). Conclusion: Patients with MDD had reduced quality of life. Fatigue, pain, dyspnoea, insomnia, appetite loss, constipation, diarrhoea, and financial difficulties were prevalent among patients with MDD.

Objectives: To assess the association between major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders and the quality of life of neurological disorder (brain tumour/brain disorder) patients. Methods: This study was conducted at Kuala Lumpur Hospital, Malaysia, a tertiary referral centre hospital for neurological disorder patients. The cross-sectional study design was applied. The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire were used in the study. Results: A total of 100 neurological disorder patients were included in the study. The study found that the Major depressive disorder correlated with almost all domains of the quality of life, except the nausea and vomiting scores. Logistic regression showed that emotional functioning and pain were related to major depressive disorder. Different anxiety disorders also correlated with quality of life in specific domains. The leading anxiety disorders that associated mostly with quality of life scales were post traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder lifetime and current, panic disorder with agoraphobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder and with agoraphobia current and social phobia current (p < 0.05). Conclusions: There is a significant relationship between psychiatric disorders and quality of life neurological disorder patients. Therefore treatment along with psychiatric intervention should be implemented to improve the overall curability of the neurological disorder patients.

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Background: Astrocytic gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors that developed from glial origin. The angiogenic cell population from brain tumor enhances the recruitment of circulating cancer stem cells homing towards tumor site.Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the tumor angiogenic cell population that stained with CD133+ and VEGFA+ markers and its association with circulating cancer stem cell (CD133+/VEGFR2-) population in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of astrocytic glioma patients.Methods: A total of 22 astrocytic glioma patients from Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia who consented to the study were included. Tumors (n=22) were sliced and stained with CD133+ and VEGFA+ angiogenic markers and counter stained with DAPI. The circulating cancer stem cells (CD133+/VEGFR2-) in PBMCs (n=22) were quantified using FACS based on the expression of CD133 and VEGFR2 markers. The paired t-test and Pearson correlation were used for the data analysis. Results:The percentage of angiogenic cell population was significantly higher in brain tumor compared to adjacent normal brain tissue (1.25 ± 0.96% vs. 0.74 ± 0.68%; paired t-test=2.855; df=21, p = 0.009). Positive correlation was found between the angiogenic cells of brain tumor tissue and adjacent normal brain tissue (Pearson correlation, r = 0.53, p = 0.011). Significant positive correlation was found between angiogenic cells in glioma tumor and cancer stem cells in peripheral circulating systems of astrocytic glioma patients (Pearson correlation, r = 0.42, p = 0.049). Conclusion:Angiogenic cells in the brain tumor resident promote the recruitment of circulating cancer stem cells homing to the tumor site and induce the proliferation and growth of the tumor in astrocytic glioma patients.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 Unported License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.