Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms in Women Prior to and for Six Months After Breast Cancer Surgery.
Depressive symptoms are common in women with breast cancer. This study evaluated how ratings of depressive symptoms changed from the time of the preoperative assessment to 6 months after surgery and investigated whether specific demographic, clinical, and symptom characteristics predicted preoperative levels of and/or characteristics of the trajectories of depressive symptoms. Characteristics that predicted higher preoperative levels of depressive symptoms included being married/partnered; receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy; more fear of metastasis; higher levels of trait anxiety, state anxiety, sleep disturbance, problems with changes in appetite; more hours per day in pain; and lower levels of attentional function. Future studies need to evaluate associations between anxiety, fears of recurrence, and uncertainty, as well as personality characteristics and depressive symptoms.
School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
Marianna
M
Kyranou
School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
Kathleen
K
Puntillo
School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA ; Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
Bradley E
BE
Aouizerat
School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
Laura B
LB
Dunn
School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
Steven M
SM
Paul
School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
Bruce A
BA
Cooper
School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
Claudia
C
West
School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
Marylin
M
Dodd
Redwood Regional Medical Group, Santa Rosa, CA.
Charles
C
Elboim
School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
Christine
C
Miaskowski
anxiety; breast cancer; depressive symptoms