TY - JOUR
T1 - The Association between Depressive Symptoms and Age in Cancer Patients
T2 - A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study
AU - Wada, Saho
AU - Shimizu, Ken
AU - Inoguchi, Hironobu
AU - Shimoda, Haruki
AU - Yoshiuchi, Kazuhiro
AU - Akechi, Tatsuo
AU - Uchida, Megumi
AU - Ogawa, Asao
AU - Fujisawa, Daisuke
AU - Inoue, Shinichirou
AU - Uchitomi, Yosuke
AU - Matsushima, Eisuke
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid in Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research (grant number H22-033 to Dr. Shimizu), from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare . The authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial or nonfinancial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The authors express special gratitude to the physicians of the departments that co-operated with this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - Context There is controversy around the association between depressive symptoms and age in adult cancer patients. Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the following hypotheses: 1) cancer patients' depressive symptoms decrease with age, and 2) in individuals aged 65 years or older, depressive symptoms increase because of the effect of somatic symptoms. Methods We retrospectively analyzed a database of 356 cancer patients who were consecutively recruited in a previous multicenter cross-sectional study. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and correlations with age and other factors were assessed by hierarchical multivariate regression analysis. Age was entered as the dependent variable in the first step, patient characteristics and cancer-related variables were entered in the second step, and somatic symptoms were entered in the last step. We analyzed this model for both the total sample and the subpopulation aged 65 years or older. Results In the total sample, the PHQ-9 score was significantly associated with lower age, fatigue, and shortness of breath (adjusted R2 14.2%). In the subpopulation aged 65 years or older, no factor was associated with the PHQ-9 score (adjusted R2 7.3%). Conclusion The finding that depressive symptoms in cancer patients decreased with age was concordant with our first hypothesis, but the second hypothesis was not supported. Younger cancer patients were vulnerable to depressive symptoms and should be monitored carefully. Further studies using more representative samples are needed to examine in detail the association between depressive symptoms and age in older cancer patients.
AB - Context There is controversy around the association between depressive symptoms and age in adult cancer patients. Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the following hypotheses: 1) cancer patients' depressive symptoms decrease with age, and 2) in individuals aged 65 years or older, depressive symptoms increase because of the effect of somatic symptoms. Methods We retrospectively analyzed a database of 356 cancer patients who were consecutively recruited in a previous multicenter cross-sectional study. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and correlations with age and other factors were assessed by hierarchical multivariate regression analysis. Age was entered as the dependent variable in the first step, patient characteristics and cancer-related variables were entered in the second step, and somatic symptoms were entered in the last step. We analyzed this model for both the total sample and the subpopulation aged 65 years or older. Results In the total sample, the PHQ-9 score was significantly associated with lower age, fatigue, and shortness of breath (adjusted R2 14.2%). In the subpopulation aged 65 years or older, no factor was associated with the PHQ-9 score (adjusted R2 7.3%). Conclusion The finding that depressive symptoms in cancer patients decreased with age was concordant with our first hypothesis, but the second hypothesis was not supported. Younger cancer patients were vulnerable to depressive symptoms and should be monitored carefully. Further studies using more representative samples are needed to examine in detail the association between depressive symptoms and age in older cancer patients.
KW - Age
KW - cancer
KW - depression
KW - oncology
KW - somatic symptoms
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2015.07.011
DO - 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2015.07.011
M3 - Article
C2 - 26300022
AN - SCOPUS:84948720006
SN - 0885-3924
VL - 50
SP - 768
EP - 777
JO - Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
JF - Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
IS - 6
ER -
