Routine screening for depression in radiation oncology patients.
PURPOSE: Depression is a debilitating illness with symptoms that overlap those of cancer and radiotherapy. We sought to measure the frequency of depression in adult radiation oncology patients. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) was incorporated into routine clinical evaluation of patients. Results were analyzed by univariate analysis and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). RESULTS: One hundred twenty-four patients were screened and 19 (15%) endorsed significant depressive symptoms. Of these, levels of depression were: 58% mild, 32% moderate, and 10% severe. Twenty-six percent of the depressed group had a history of previous psychiatric diagnoses and 32% previously had been placed on psychotropic medications. The most frequent somatic symptoms for the entire group were loss of energy (73%) and tiredness or fatigue (69%). All depressed patients endorsed some somatic symptoms, but these alone were insufficient to score in the range of depression. CONCLUSIONS: A simple tool can be administered in the clinic by radiation oncologists to screen for depression. The frequency of depression in our patients was 15%. Somatic symptoms alone were insufficient to score as depressed.
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- Radiotherapy
- Radiation Oncology
- Psychological Tests
- Oncology & Carcinogenesis
- Neoplasms
- Middle Aged
- Mass Screening
- Male
- Humans
- Female
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Location
Related Subject Headings
- Radiotherapy
- Radiation Oncology
- Psychological Tests
- Oncology & Carcinogenesis
- Neoplasms
- Middle Aged
- Mass Screening
- Male
- Humans
- Female