Influence of Depression on Cancer Metastasis

Lee, Suk Jeong; Kim, Joohyung; Park, Young Mi

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study was a retrospective analysis with survey study which analyze influence of depression of patients with cancer on metastasis. METHODS: The subjects of this research were 223 patients who underwent chemotherapy or are in follow-up management with stomach, colon, or breast cancer. The questionnaires were collected in 2002 and medical documents were reviewed 400 days after the first data collection. Subjects were divided according to the depression level into over-average group and under average group. RESULTS: In survival analysis, metastasis occurred in 49 of 211 in 223 subjects for whom follow-up review was done after 400 days. The depression and anxiety level were higher in the group with metastasis than the other with no metastasis. As a result, it showed that the lower depression they have, the lesser the metastasis occurred. CONCLUSION: This research showed that patients who have higher level of depression, experienced higher risk for cancer metastasis. Nurses who take care of cancer patients are responsible for giving patients with positivity with intention to subside their depression.