Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (Sep 2017)
Depression and family support in breast cancer patients
Abstract
Jian-An Su,1–3,* Dah-Cherng Yeh,4,* Ching-Chi Chang,5,* Tzu-Chin Lin,6,7 Ching-Hsiang Lai,8 Pei-Yun Hu,8 Yi-Feng Ho,9 Vincent Chin-Hung Chen,1,2 Tsu-Nai Wang,10,11 Michael Gossop12 1Chang Gung Medical Foundation, Chiayi Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan; 2Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; 3Department of Nursing, Chang Gung Institute of Technology, Taoyuan, Taiwan; 4Department of Surgery, Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Taichung, Taiwan; 5Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University and Department of Psychiatry, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 6Department of Psychiatry, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 7Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; 8Department of Medical Informatics, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; 9Tsaotun Psychiatric Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Nan-Tou,Taiwan; 10Department of Public Health, College of Health Science, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 11Center of Excellence for Environmental Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 12King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Among the survivors, depression is one of the most common psychiatric comorbidities. This paper reports the point prevalence of major depressive disorder among breast cancer patients and the association between family support and major depressive disorder.Methods: Clinical data were collected from a breast cancer clinic of a general hospital in central Taiwan. Participants included 300 patients who were older than 18 years and diagnosed with breast cancer. Among these individuals, we used Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (a structural diagnostic tool for psychiatric disorders) to ascertain if they had major depressive disorder. We also used the Family Adaptability, Partnership, Growth, Affection, and Resolve score to assess the family support.Results: The point prevalence of major depressive disorder among breast cancer patients was 8.33%, and this was positively associated with insomnia, psychiatric family history, pain severity, and radiotherapy and negatively associated with menopause, cancer duration, hormone therapy, and family support. Family support (adjusted odds ratio =0.87, 95% CI: 0.78–0.98) was found to be an associated factor for major depressive disorder in breast cancer patients after controlling for potential risk factors.Conclusion: Major depressive disorder is a common comorbidity among breast cancer patients. Family support is an important associated factor for these patients. Health care professionals should evaluate mood problems and family support while treating these patients. Keywords: breast cancer, prevalence, depression, family support, risk factors, psychiatric disorders
