Abstract
Social support, quality of life and mental health status in breast cancer patients
Highlights
Introduction and backgroundBreast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women worldwide with nearly 1.7 million new cases diagnosed in 2012
When we screened patients for mental health status, 61 (40.93%) of breast patients were positive either for borderline or abnormal depression, whereas 78 (52.34%) of patients were positive either borderline or abnormal anxiety. This showed that the prevalence of undiagnosed depression and anxiety was higher in breast cancer patients when compared to other cancer as shown in the Table 1
In a study done by Zhen Gou et al concerning QoL of patients undergoing radiotherapy at People’s Republic of China, global health status/QoL score was 61.31, function (55.56) and symptom score (29.42) [16]
Summary
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women worldwide with nearly 1.7 million new cases diagnosed in 2012 (second most common cancer overall). This represents about 12% of all new cancer cases and 25% of all cancers in women [1]. It is a challenge for women as it is a life threatening disease, and needs intensive surgical and medical treatments. Depression and anxiety are common among people diagnosed with cancer [3]). The patients with untreated depression or anxiety are less likely to take their cancer treatment medication and continue healthy habits because of fatigue and lack of motivation
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