title: Depression and conservative surgery for breast cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Depression is prevalent among women and associated with reduced quality of life, and therefore it is important to determine its incidence in adult women, especially in those with breast cancer.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the occurrence of depression in women who underwent conservative surgery for breast cancer with or without breast reconstruction.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-five women aged between 18 and 65 years were enrolled. Patients had undergone conservative surgery for breast cancer with immediate breast reconstruction (n = 25) or without breast reconstruction (n = 25) at least one year before the study. The control group consisted of 25 women without cancer, but of similar age and educational level distribution as the other two groups. The Beck Depression Inventory was used to measure depression. The collected data were assessed using analysis of variance and the χ² test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences between groups in age (p = 0.72) or educational level (p = 0.20). A smaller number of patients had undergone the menopause (p = 0.02) in the control group than in other groups. There were no significant differences in occurrence of depression between groups (χ² = 9.97; p = 0.126). CONCLUSÍON: Conservative surgery for breast cancer did not affect the occurrence of depression in women, regardless of whether breast reconstruction was performed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic Surgery, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mauriceia C L de
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Medeiros
authors.forename: Daniela F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Veiga
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sabino Neto
authors.forename: Luis E F
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Abla
authors.forename: Yara
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Juliano
authors.forename: Lydia M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016462:Mammaplasty / Q000523:psychology; D008408:Mastectomy / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult