Depression, anxiety, and their associated factors among Chinese early breast cancer in women under 35 years of age: A cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND

It has been reported that younger breast cancer patients are at greater risk of having psychological problems than their older counterparts. This study is conducted to evaluate the psychological status of Chinese postoperative breast cancer patients aged 35 years or younger and understand the associated factors in this patient group.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study prospectively enrolled 114 Chinese postoperative breast cancer patients aged 35 years or younger. They completed standard instruments evaluating depression (Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ]-9) and anxiety (General Anxiety Disorder-7). Logistic regression was used to identify the associated factors.

RESULTS

The mean scores were 5.21 and 4.19 for the PHQ-9 and General Anxiety Disorder-7, respectively. There were 76.3%, 20.2%, and 3.5% patients categorized into the none and/or mild (score 1-7), moderate (score 8-14), and moderate to severe depression (score 15-19) groups, respectively. For anxiety, there were 91.2%, 5.3% and, 3.5% of patients in the none and/or mild anxiety (score 0-9), moderate anxiety (score 10-14), and severe anxiety (score 15-21) groups, respectively. With univariate analysis, cohabitation status (P = 0.002) and adjuvant endocrine therapy (P = 0.048) tended to be associated with the level of depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 8). In the multivariate analysis, living alone (odds ratio = 5.08, 95% confidence interval = 1.81-14.26, P = 0.002) and the administration of ovarian function suppression (odds ratio = 2.76, 95% confidence interval = 1.04-7.37, P = 0.042) were still independently correlated with a higher level of depression. No significant predictors were found for anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study evaluated the depression and anxiety of young Chinese breast cancer patients; addressing the psychosocial assessment of these patients should be integrated into cancer treatments and follow-ups, especially for those receiving ovarian function suppression and living alone.