Prevalence and Risk Factors of Emotional Distress in Patients With Prostate Cancer Assigned to External-beam Radiotherapy With or Without High-dose Rate Brachytherapy

Ahmed Al-Salool, Tamer Soror, Nathan Y. Yu, Dirk Rades*

*Corresponding author for this work

Abstract

Background/Aim: Upcoming radiotherapy for prostate cancer may lead to emotional distress. This study aimed to identify the prevalence and risk factors in a retrospective cohort of 102 patients. Patients and Methods: Thirteen characteristics were evaluated for six emotional problems. To account for multiple comparisons, Bonferroni correction was used; p-values <0.0038 were significant (alpha level <0.05). Results: Prevalence of worry, fears, sadness, depression, nervousness, and loss of interest in usual activities was 25%, 27%, 11%, 11%, 18%, and 5%, respectively. A greater number of physical problems was significantly associated with worry (p=0.0037) and fears (p<0.0001) and showed trends regarding sadness (p=0.011) and depression (p=0.011). Trends were also found for associations between younger age and worry (p=0.021), advanced primary tumor stage and fears (p=0.025), patient’s history of another malignancy and nervousness (p=0.035), and between external-beam radiotherapy alone and fears (p=0.042) or nervousness (p=0.037). Conclusion: Although the prevalence of emotional distress was comparably low, patients with risk factors may benefit from early psychological support.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAnticancer Research
Volume43
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)2103-2109
Number of pages7
ISSN0250-7005
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 05.2023

Research Areas and Centers

  • Research Area: Luebeck Integrated Oncology Network (LION)
  • Centers: University Cancer Center Schleswig-Holstein (UCCSH)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Prevalence and Risk Factors of Emotional Distress in Patients With Prostate Cancer Assigned to External-beam Radiotherapy With or Without High-dose Rate Brachytherapy'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this