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65th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

11 - 14 May 2014, Dresden

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Depression, suicide and quality of life in patients with malignant gliomas and meningiomas – results of a prospective observational study using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) up to one year after diagnosis

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  • Mirjam Renovanz - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsmedizin Mainz
  • Anne-Katrin Hickmann - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Klinikum Stuttgart
  • Markus Haug - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Klinikum Stuttgart
  • Minou Nadji-Ohl - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Klinikum Stuttgart
  • Alf Giese - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsmedizin Mainz
  • Nikolai Hopf - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Klinikum Stuttgart

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 65. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC). Dresden, 11.-14.05.2014. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2014. DocDI.10.03

doi: 10.3205/14dgnc170, urn:nbn:de:0183-14dgnc1708

Published: May 13, 2014

© 2014 Renovanz et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Objective: Depression and decreased quality of life have been described in patients with cerebral glioma, however suicide of patients with glioma suffering from depression has not been reported often. The aim of our ongoing study is to prospectively assess signs of depression and impairment of quality of life in patients with malignant glioma and meningioma (WHO°I) using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) up to 12 months postoperatively.

Method: To date 40 patients with gliomas, 35 patients with meningiomas were included. Assessment of quality of life and depression were made during hospital stay (t1), after 3 (t2), 6 (t3) up to12 (t4) months after discharge by following instruments: EORTC QLQ-30, QLQ-BN20, BDI (Beck Depression Inventory, self-reporting instrument) and a self-designed questionnaire concerning suicidal tendency and social support. Karnofsky performance status scale (KPSS) and mini-mental state examination (MMSE) were used to evaluate the clinical and neurocognitive situation. Diagnosis of a preexisting depression was an exclusion criterion.

Results: Mean scores of BDI in the two patient groups were significantly different (glioma-group: t1 = 7.49, t2 = 9.32, t3 = 8.45, t4 = 7.73, meningioma-group: t1 = 7.19, t2 = 7.57, t3 = 6.2, t4 = 6.71t-test, p= 0.045). However, a score over 18 (manifest depression) was reached in both groups by 3 patients with gliomas and 3 patients with meningiomas. 7 patients in the glioma group and 6 patients in the meningioma group indicated that they had thought about suicide during the course of their disease. KPSS (glioma group: 90%, meningioma group 99%) and QOL were not significantly lower in the glioma group (QLQ-30 question no. 30: glioma-group: t1=3.84, t2=4.48, t3=4.59, t4=5.38; meningioma-group: t1=4.39, t2=5.26, t3=5.44, t4=5.85, range 1-7, p>0.05). However, a significant difference was noticed in health perception postoperatively (QLQ-30 question no. 29: glioma-group: t1=3.61, meningioma-group t1=4.39, range 1-7, p=0.021). More than 90% of all patients indicated to have a good familial support, whereas postoperatively patients with meningiomas felt significantly more often left alone (p=0.024).

Conclusions: We conclude that patients with gliomas are at a moderately higher risk of developing symptoms of depression after diagnosis compared to meningioma patients and may benefit from professional help despite their familial support. However, depression and suicidal thoughts occurred in both groups.