The impact of genetic predisposition to depression on quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer immediately post-treatment: A longitudinal study.

Abstract

6063 Background: The primary aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of genetic predisposition to depression, through polygenic risk scores (PRS), on quality of life levels in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) immediately post-treatment period (i.e., 3 months post-diagnosis). Methods: Prospective longitudinal study of 223 consecutive adult patients with HNC (72% participation) newly diagnosed with a first occurrence of primary HNC, including saliva samples analyzed using the Illumina PsychChip, psychometric measures, Structured Clinical DSM Interviews, and medical chart reviews. Results: Level of quality of life at 3 months on the FACT-G+H&N was predicted by (r2 = 0.51, r2 adj. = 0.33, p = 0.001) the polygenic risk score for depression (standardized b = -0.28, p = 0.01) and a previous history of suicidal ideation (standardized b = -0.25, p = 0.04). Other variables were non-significant in the analyses: sociodemographic (i.e., age, sex, education, living alone), psychosocial (i.e., SCID current and past diagnoses (trend), past history of abuse), and medical variables (i.e., cancer stage and site, HPV status, functional status/ECOG, treatment). Conclusions: Our results outline the importance of attending to genetic predisposition and past history of suicidal ideation as markers for quality of life compromise immediately post-treatment in patients with head and neck cancers. Strategies are needed to address psychosocial vulnerability early-on as part of pre-habilitation in the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer.