Abstract
Research of hospitalised patients with advanced cancer has indicated a 30–40% prevalence of severe depression. The study sought to examine the relationship between depression and quality of life features (QL) in advanced cancer patients followed by a home-care oncology programme. Eighty-six patients (50 males and 36 females) filled out the Hospital Anxiety Depression scale (HAD) and the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire-C30 (QLQ). By using a cut-off score indicating a substantial depressive condition (HAD-Depression≥11), 39 patients (45.3%) were depressed. Significantly lower levels on several QL dimensions were shown in patients with depression, namely Emotional QL (F=10.22), Social QL (F=7.7), Cognitive QL (F=30.95), Physical QL (F=5.2), Functional QL (F=14.89), and Total QL (F=13.07). Lower scores on Karnofsky scale were also found in the depressed group (51.53±10.89 Vs 57.23±10.82, F=5.7, P=0.01). The study, confirming the high rate of depression in advanced cancer patients, suggests the overlapping between affective and physical components of QL and indicates the need for a close cooperation between psychiatry and oncology in detecting and treating emotional problems which interfere with the patients' QL.
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