Abstract 1577P
Background
The prevalence of anxiety disorders and depression in testicular cancer survivors (TCSs) reported in literature ranges from 8-19.2% and 9-11% respectively. There is no data on the prevalence of anxiety and depression in TCSs in India hence we conducted this study.
Methods
This observational study was conducted at a tertiary cancer centre in India.TCSs who completed therapy ≥ one year ago were included in this study. TCSs were evaluated for depression and anxiety using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) questionnaire.Patients with a score of ≥ 10 (for both PHQ-9 & GAD-7) were referred to a mental health professional. Descriptive statistics and Chi Square test was used for analysis.
Results
Sixty nine TCSs with a median age (at diagnosis) of 30 years (IQR 25.5-37) were included in this study. All patients underwent orchiectomy and received chemotherapy, in addition 14 underwent retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) and 4 received radiation. The PHQ-9 scores for depression were minimal (0-4),mild (5-9) and moderate (10-14) in 60.9%, 34.8% and 4.3% patients respectively. Using the GAD-7 we found that 78.3%, 18.8% and 2.9% had minimal, mild and moderate anxiety respectively. Demographic (age, marital status, education, income, employment status, rural or urban dweller) and clinical variables (histology, risk category, type of treatment received, disease recurrence, time since treatment completion, history of psychiatric illness) were analysed to look for an association with the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores. The PHQ –9 scores had a significant association with the type of treatment received by the patient. Higher number of patients who received chemotherapy alone had mild and moderate PHQ-9 scores (p=0.009) as compared to those who also underwent RPLND or received radiation.There was no significant association of PHQ-9 scores with any of the other demographic or clinical variables analysed. There was no association of GAD-7 scores with any of the clinical or demographic variables analysed.
Conclusions
A small number of TCSs in this study had clinically significant depression and anxiety scores that needed intervention. Type of treatment was the only factor that correlated with the depression scores.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.