The effect of anxiety and depresyon on the clinical cases of the people with newly diagnosed lung cancer

Aim: Perception and meaning of cancer by the patients affect the response to the disease. Stage of the cancer, side effects of the treatment, psychological maturity, economical status and support from friends and family are among these factors. In particular, the presence of depression increases the costs of treatment and treatment duration by adversely affecting the prognosis of disease. The first end-point aim in our study was to investigate the effects of the anxiety and depression on the clinical cases of the people with newly diagnosed lung cancer. Secondary end-point aim in our study was to investigate the effects of socio-demographic data and some laboratory results on clinical cases of the patients.Method: 67 patients admitted to Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Medicine (DEÜTF), Pulmonary Diseases Department were surveyed between September 2010 and March 2011. Patients, firstly filled the forms including the socio-demographic data and then filled the forms testing Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score. Karnofsky and ECOG performance scores, types of disease, stage of disease, laboratory results (urea, creatinine, LDH, and complete blood count) were recorded.Results: After six months, 26 (%42,62) out of 67 patients died. As a result of the study, any correlation between the survival time and depression was not observed. It was thought that increased level of depression at the end of six months might be related to side effects of treatment, increased severity of pain or the feelings that she/he was close to death. Also, it was observed that those with pain had higher levels of depression.Conclusion: The socio-demographic factors do not have any significant effects on survival time in patients with inoperable lung cancer. Those with pain had higher levels of depression and pain significantly reduced the survival time. Finally, there was not observed any correlation between the survival time and depression.