Depression, anxiety and quality of life in women in treatment of breast cancer

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of depression, anxiety and quality of life in women referred to outpatient care at tertiary mastology, who are followed-up during the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Methods: An observational cross-sectional, descriptive, analytical, prospective study with 25 women treated for breast cancer at the Mastology Clinic of Hospital Geral de Palmas (HGP), Tocantins, Brazil, in the period from September to November 2009, was accomplished. For this research, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the questionnaire of quality of life (WHOQOL-bref) and a form filled with questions by the examiner on the socio-cultural conditions, emphasizing the history of stressful events such as loss of close relatives, separation or divorce or some sort of grief or loss that could influence the emotional aspect of the patients before diagnosis were applied. Results: Analyzing the presented results, it was verified that 52% of patients recognize that they had stressful events before the diagnosis of breast cancer, and 84.61% of these events were related to the loss of a close relative. The data of the analysis of the HADS showed that seven patients had anxiety and four patients had depression, 28 and 16%, respectively. Conclusions: The results suggest that the stressful events can influence the onset of breast cancer, and the psychological phenomena of depression and anxiety require a better assessment on the use of instruments for data collection in the studies.