The Impact of Illness Perceptions on Depressive Symptoms Among Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Patients with Lower Urinary Tract Symptom

Abstract

Linlin Yang,1,2 Xin Chen,3 Zhiqi Liu,3 Wei Sun,3 Dexin Yu,3 Haiqin Tang,1,2,* Zhiqiang Zhang3,* 1Department of Geriatrics Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of General Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Urology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Haiqin TangDepartment of Geriatrics Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, No. 218 Jixi Road, Hefei, Anhui, 230022, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected] ZhangDepartment of Urology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, No. 678 Furong Road, Hefei, Anhui, 230032, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected]: This study aimed at exploring whether illness perceptions may mediate the relationship between depressive symptoms and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) among benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients.Methods: The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for depression, the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) for the severity of LUTS and the brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (B-IPQ) for illness perceptions (IPs) were used among the 157 BPH patients with LUTS. Pearson’s correlation test and hierarchical regression analyses were used to assess the correlations between LUTS, depressive symptoms and IPs.Results: Our study found that the severity of LUTS was associated with depressive symptoms and subscales of illness perception; meanwhile, IPs were associated with the level of education. A positive relationship was found between the scores of PHQ9 and the B-IPQ subscales of illness consequences, identity, timeline, concern and emotion; thus, a negative correlation was found between scores of PHQ9 and the B-IPQ subscales of illness coherence, personal control and treatment control. The hierarchical regression analysis showed IPSS and the B-IPQ subscales of illness consequences, concern and emotion were significantly associated with depression, and explained 85.1% of the variance in depressive symptoms (R2 = 0.851, p < 0.05).Conclusion: The relationship between LUTS and depressive symptoms may be mediated by the negative IPs, including consequences, concern and emotions. Clinicians should not only focus on the LUTS but also on the IPs to improve depressive symptoms among BPH patients.Keywords: lower urinary tract symptom, illness perceptions, benign prostatic hyperplasia, depression

Keywords

• lower urinary tract symptom
• illness perceptions
• benign prostatic hyperplasia
• depression