Quality of life, pain, anxiety and depression in patients surgically treated with cancer of rectum

Abstract

BackgroundThe rectum cancer is associated with high rates of complications and morbidities with great impact on the lives of affected individuals.AimTo evaluate quality of life, pain, anxiety and depression in patients treated for medium and lower rectum cancer, submitted to surgical intervention.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional study. Eighty-eight records of patients with medium and lower rectum cancer, submitted to surgical intervention were selected, and enrolled. Forty-seven patients died within the study period, and the other 41 were studied. Question forms EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC QLQ-CR38 were used to assess quality of life. Pain evaluation was carried out using the Visual Analogical Scale, depression and anxiety were assessed through Depression Inventories and Beck's Anxiety, respectively. The correlation between pain intensity, depression and anxiety was carried out, and between these and the EORTC QLQ-C30 General Scale for Health Status and overall quality of life, as well as the EORTC QLQ-CR38 functional and symptom scales.ResultsOf the 41 patients of the study, 52% presented pain, depression in 47%, and anxiety in 39%. There was a marking positive correlation between pain intensity and depression. There was a moderate negative correlation between depression and general health status, and overall quality of life as well as pain intensity with the latter. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between future depression perspective and sexual function, and also a strong positive correlation between depression and sexual impairments. A positive correlation between anxiety and gastro-intestinal problems, both statistically significant, was observed.ConclusionEvaluation scales showed detriment on quality life evaluation, besides an elevated incidence of pain, depression, and anxiety; a correlation among these, and factors which influence on the quality of life of post-surgical medium and lower rectum cancer patients was observed.

Health-Related Quality of Life Assessment in Patients With Rectal Cancer Treated With Curative Intent

“…Likewise, it is known that there is a greater difficulty for women to participate mainly because of their embarrassment in the questioning of their sex life, even when the questionnaires are applied individually without the presence of the researcher (3) . Despite this possible constraint on women in research participation, the female sex was predominant (18:11) in the present study, which is in agreement with other national studies (19,20) , but contrary to what happens in most international studies (16,23) . The mean age of our patients was 50.8 years.…”

“…When we evaluated the unicentric studies we noticed that the samples ranged from 21 to 120 patients, most of them being less than 60 patients (1,2,17,19) . Our study was initially conducted with 58 patients diagnosed with cancer were at the beginning of treatment, but unfortunately only 29 were within the criteria for analysis and could then be used.…”

A prospective study of changes in anxiety, depression, and problems in living during chemotherapy treatments: effects of age and gender

“…Such information for patients in South America is timely, particularly in Brazil, with a population of almost 210-million people experiencing a 500% increase in cancer incidence between 1995 and 2015 [19]. To date, the few studies conducted in Brazil have found that 21 to 39% of cancer patients displayed clinical levels of anxiety, and from 17 to 47% endorse depression [20][21][22]. However, these studies have substantial methodological limitations, such as use of cross-sectional design [20][21][22] and convenience sampling without specific eligibility criteria based on the time since diagnosis and treatment type or status [22,24].…”

“…To date, the few studies conducted in Brazil have found that 21 to 39% of cancer patients displayed clinical levels of anxiety, and from 17 to 47% endorse depression [20][21][22]. However, these studies have substantial methodological limitations, such as use of cross-sectional design [20][21][22] and convenience sampling without specific eligibility criteria based on the time since diagnosis and treatment type or status [22,24]. These limitations also preclude reliable, precise knowledge on the prevalence, trajectory, and predictors of distress and problems in daily living among newly diagnosed cancer patients in Brazil.…”

Lithium chloride has a biphasic effect on prostate cancer stem cells and a proportional effect on midkine levels

“…LiCl acts through inhibition of the glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) pathway (an agonist known to activate the Wnt/β-catenin signaling], the phosphoinositide signaling pathway and adenylate cyclase (15)(16)(17)(18)(19). Cancer and/or the cancer treatment itself may lead to psychiatric disorders causing a reduction in life quality and a desire to overcome the illness (20). Therefore, the safety profile of the anti-manic drug LiCl needs to be re-evaluated.…”