Psychiatric morbidity among Egyptian breast cancer patients and their partners and its impact on surgical decision-making.

INTRODUCTION

Psychiatric morbidities, especially cases of anxiety and depression, are prevalent among breast cancer patients and their partners.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Fifty-four early diagnosed breast cancer patients and their partners were compared with 50 healthy couples to assess psychiatric morbidity and the impact of various factors upon patients' surgical choice.

RESULTS

It was found that 18.5%, 22.2%, and 3.7% of husbands had generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and panic disorder, respectively. It was also found that 38.8%, 29.6%, and 9.2% of the patients had major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder, respectively. Depression and anxiety scores were high in both partners in love-based, well-adjusted marriages, within the middle socioeconomic class, and among educated couples. Among the well-known factors related to surgical treatment choice (age, parity, tumor size, pathology, grade, lymph node status), only age and psychological morbidity (in the patients and their partners) had a significant impact on treatment choice.

CONCLUSION

Patients of middle socioeconomic class, the well educated, and those in love-based marriages had a higher likelihood of suffering different types of psychological morbidities and were more likely to choose breast conservation or reconstruction than mastectomy.