[Relationship between symptoms of pancreatic cancer-related depression and quality of life of patients].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between symptoms of pancreatic cancer-related depression and quality of life of patients.


METHODS
Fifty inpatients with pancreatic cancer from 3 Guangzhou hospitals between June 2007 and October 2008 were enrolled. Hamilton rating scale for depression-24 (HAMD-24) questionnaire was used to assess the degree of depression. Quality of Life (QoL) was evaluated by European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and QLQ-PAN-26 respectively.


RESULTS
Thirty-nine (78.0%) of these patients reported depression and 12 patients (30.8%) had severe depression. The incidence of depression in pancreatic cancer patients with chemotherapy was 92.3% (24/26), which was significantly higher than that of patients with surgical therapy (62.5%, 15/24) (P = 0. 011). The QoL of pancreatic cancer patients with depression in role functioning, emotional functioning and social functioning was significantly worse than that of patients without depression. The symptoms of fatigue, pain and appetite loss in pancreatic cancer patients with depression were significantly more than those without depression (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Depressive symptoms are common psychological disturbance in pancreatic cancer patients. Moreover, depression significantly lowers quality of life for pancreatic cancer patients.
Jia
Lin
L
Department of Digestive Diseases, First Municipal People's Hospital of Guangzhou, Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou 510180, China. jialin@medmail.com.cn
Shang
Yuan-Yuan
YY
Jiang
Shu-Man
SM
Xie
Qi
Q
Huang
Yao-Xing
YX
Xie
De-Rong
DR
Huang
Kai-Hong
KH
Zhi
Fa-Chao
FC
Li
Yu-Yuan
YY
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires