Demographic and Clinical Correlates of Breast Cancer Patients with Depression

Abstract

Background and objectives Breast cancer patients are vulnerable to depression with prevalence varying between 11 and 86% in literature with direct and indirect impact on compliance to treatment, quality of life and response to therapeutic course. Our study aims to identifying the profile of patients with cancer breast whom symptoms exceed normal reactive sadness to depressive manifestation necessitating psychiatric and psychological intervention. Methods 100 female patients with breast cancer diagnosis were recruited from Alexandria Police Hospital after consenting they were subject to mammogram, laboratory investigations for calcium, alkaline phosphatase, renal, hepatic functions and complete blood picture and thyroid profile. Hamilton Rating Scale and structured demographic data questionnaire was to collect relevant data. Results The prevalence of moderate to severe depressive symptoms on HAM-D was 52%, Significant statistical association was found between patients with depressive manifestations and postmenopusal state (p<0.001), with widowed and divorced (p<0.001), family history of brease cancer (p<0.001), advanced cancer staging (p<0.001), presence of Infiltrative ductal carcinoma (p<0.001) and type of surgery whether lumbectomy or modifies radical mastectomy (p<0.05). However the presence of brain metastasis, adjuvant chemotherapy or presence of family history of psychiatric illness didn't show statistical difference. Conclusion Depression is a common illness among breast cancer patients with particular vulnerable group among those postmenopausal widowed and divorced with advanced stage having rather infiltrative ductal carcinoma.

The prevalence and correlates of depression among patients with breast cancer, attending outpatient clinics at two cancer units in Sri Lanka

“…Previous work has shown that premenopausal women were more likely to experience depression and other side effects related to various modes of treatment for breast cancer, and a similar increased rate of depression was seen in this group of patients in our study (15). However, there is also research showing the opposite association (16). Having young children needing care has been described as a vulnerability factor for depression in the general population, and this may play a role with regards to depression even in patients with breast cancer, as shown in our study.…”

“…The study was conducted at the National Cancer Institute of Sri Lanka and Teaching Hospital Karapitiya. Ethical approval for the study was granted from the SL J Psychiatry 2020; 11(2): [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Scale (CES-D). Socio-demographic and clinical information regarding the cancer was collected using a questionnaire.…”

“…Local lymph node invasion itself did not show an increased risk of depression in this study. However there are various levels of invasion that were not considered in this study due to the unavailability of uniform pathological reports with the patients (16). If proper staging was considered there may have been significant associations with the prevalence of depression (25).…”

Depression and Sleep Quality among Iranian Women with Breast Cancer

“…The prevalence of depression among women with breast cancer was reported in 2017 to be 44% in the USA (Park et al, 2018). It is reasonable to assume that differences in socioeconomic status including age, educational attainment (Boing et al, 2019;Freeman et al, 2016), income level (Huang et al, 2019;Freeman et al, 2016) and marital status (Rady et al, 2018;Huang et al 2019, Freeman et al, 2016; religiosity and religious coping (Ng et al, 2017); coping patterns (Li et al, 2017); menopausal state; family history of breast cancer; breast cancer staging; type of breast surgery (Boing et al, 2019;Rady et al, 2018); diagnosis of other diseases; lymphedema; self-esteem; body image (Boing et al, 2019); obesity; and side effects of chemotherapy on fertility and sexual function (Huang et al, 2019) may explain inconsistencies in the reported prevalence of depression among women with breast cancer by different studies. Depression may itself bring about many negative consequences, including longer hospital stays, increased physical distress, poorer adherence to treatment, lower quality of life, and high desire for hastened death (Li et al, 2016).…”

“…Depression is one of the most common comorbidities of cancer patients (Mausbach et al, 2018). It seems that several factors are associated with depression in women with breast cancer, including age, educational attainment, lymphedema, self-esteem levels, body image (Boing et al, 2019), type of breast surgery (Boing et al, 2019;Rady et al, 2018), employment status, household income, obesity, marital status, side effects of chemotherapy on fertility, sexual function and perimenopausal period (Huang et al, 2019). Moreover, there is a significant association between depression and sleep disorder (Mansano-Schlosser et al, 2017).…”