Quality of Life and Depressive Signs and Symptoms of the Elderly Women with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is an event that affects woman physically and psychologically. The treatment can cause distress for women and contribute for the appearance of depression. Objective: To investigate the association of depressive signs and symptoms with the quality of life of elderly women with breast cancer. Method: An analytical, cross-sectional study with 52 elderly. There were applied home interviews using tool for socio-demographic data and family support, Geriatric Depression Scale questionnaire and World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref. For analysis, there was applied the chi-square test for comparison and association of binary logistic regression analysis. Results: 30.8% of participants had depressive signs and symptoms. The areas most committed to the participants were the Physical and Environmental. There was no association between the domains and the presence of depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Regarding the perceptions of elderly women with breast cancer about quality of life and satisfaction with health. There were observed significant differences between the groups with and without depressive symptoms for good and satisfied perceptions.