Predicting delayed anxiety and depression in patients with gastrointestinal cancer

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the possibility of predicting anxiety and depression 6 months after a cancer diagnosis on the basis of measures of anxiety, depression, coping and subjective distress associated with the diagnosis and to explore the possibility of identifying individual patients with high levels of delayed anxiety and depression associated with the diagnosis. A consecutive series of 159 patients with gastrointestinal cancer were interviewed in connection with the diagnosis, 3 months (non-cured patients only) and 6 months later. The interviews utilized structured questionnaires assessing anxiety and depression [Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale], coping [Mental Adjustment to Cancer (MAC) scale] and subjective distress [Impact of Event (IES) scale]. Patient anxiety and depression close to the diagnosis were found to explain approximately 35% of the variance in anxiety and depression that was found 6 months later. The addition of coping and subjective distress measures did little to improve that prediction. A model using (standardized) cut-off scores of moderate to high anxiety, depression (HAD) and intrusive thoughts (IES subscale) close to the diagnosis to identify patients at risk for delayed anxiety and depression achieved a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 98%. Levels of anxiety and depression at diagnosis predicted a similar status 6 months later. The results also indicated that the HAD scale in combination with the IES intrusion subscale may be used as a tool for detecting patients at risk of delayed anxiety and depression. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaign

Personality variables as predictors of early non-metastatic colorectal cancer patients’ psychological distress and health-related quality of life: A one-year prospective study

“…Although the vast majority of our sample (92.9%) had disease duration less than 5 years with 49.3% being diagnosed within the last six months and we adjusted for disease duration, this lack of an actual "baseline" point might have intervened with our findings. Not surprisingly, patients who initially presented high rates of psychological distress symptoms were more likely to show increased rates of the respective symptoms at followup, a finding consistent with the results of previous studies reporting that baseline levels of psychological distress symptoms predict similar status 12 months later [52][53][54]. Our finding, though, regarding the gender's role in the development of depressive symptoms needs further elaboration.…”

Illness perceptions among carer–survivor dyads are related to psychological distress among Oesophageal cancer survivors

“…The research presented here indicates that Oesophageal cancer survivors experience levels of symptoms of anxiety and depression similar to that reported for people with other head and neck cancers [8,27] but higher than rates reported for other breast, prostate, bronchial and gastrointestinal cancers [28,29]. It is possible that the higher rates of psychological distress can be explained by the consequences of Oesophageal and head and neck cancer, which have a potential impact on appearance and social functioning [30].…”

Anxiety and depression in patients with gastrointestinal cancer: does knowledge of cancer diagnosis matter?

“…They also showed that there are only minor changes over time in the average values of emotional well being in these patients [10]. In addition they have indicated that levels of anxiety and depression at diagnosis could predict a similar status 6 months later [11]. Importantly they found that patients' satisfaction with life, as defined in terms of the discrepancy between the perceived attainment and subjective importance of various life values, is associated with anxiety and depression [12].…”