Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (Aug 2022)

Alleviating Excessive Worries Improves Co-Occurring Depression and Pain in Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Patients: A Network Approach

  • Li W,
  • Xu Y,
  • Luo X,
  • Wen Y,
  • Ding K,
  • Xu W,
  • Garg S,
  • Yang Y,
  • Sun H

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 18
pp. 1843 – 1854

Abstract

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Wengao Li,1,* Yining Xu,2,* Xian Luo,3,* Youlu Wen,1 Kairong Ding,4,5 Wenjing Xu,6,7 Samradhvi Garg,8 Yuan Yang,5 Hengwen Sun7 1Department of Psychiatry, Guangdong 999 Brain Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Nursing, Guangzhou First People’s Hospital, the Second Affiliated Hospital, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510000, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Psychiatry, Southern Medical University Nanfang Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, People’s Republic of China; 5Guangdong Mental Health Center,Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Guangzhou, 510080, People’s Republic of China; 6The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Radiotherapy, Cancer Center, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510080, People’s Republic of China; 8School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9BL, UK*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Hengwen Sun, Department of Radiotherapy, Cancer Center, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Guangzhou, 510080, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected] Yuan Yang, Guangdong Mental Health Center, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Guangzhou, 510080, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Anxiety, depression, and pain are highly interactive with each other in adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients. This study aims to map out the connectivity between anxiety, depression and pain symptoms amongst Chinese AYA cancer patients from the perspective of a network model.Methods: Two hundred and eighteen AYA patients, aged between 15 and 39 years at diagnosis; completed the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and McGill Pain Questionnaire-Visual Analogue Scale (MPQ-VAS). Network analyses were performed.Results: In all, 38.07% (95% CI = 31.58– 44.57%) of the participants reported depression, 30.73% (95% CI = 24.56– 36.91%) reported anxiety, and 14.22% (95% CI = 9.55– 18.89%) reported current pain. The generated network illustrated that anxiety, depression and pain community were well connected. In the network, “having trouble relaxing” (GAD4, node strength = 1.182), “uncontrollable worry” (GAD2, node strength = 1.165), and “sad mood” (PHQ2, node strength = 1.144) were identified as the most central symptoms, while “uncontrollable worry” (GAD2, bridge strength = 0.645), “guilty” (PHQ6, bridge strength = 0.545), and “restlessness” (GAD5, bridge strength = 0.414) were the key bridging symptoms that connected different communities.Conclusion: Anxiety, depression and pain symptoms are highly interactive with each other. Alleviating AYA cancer patient’s excessive worries might be helpful in improving the patient’s co-occurring anxiety, depression and pain symptoms.Keywords: adolescent, anxiety, cancer, depression, network, pain, young adult

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