gms | German Medical Science

Objective: Patients with diagnosis of malignant cerebral brain tumour tend to show high rates of perioperative psychooncological distress, particularly in cases with concomitant neurological deficits. In the present study we aimed to analyse psychooncological screening parameter in the long-term course in order to evaluate requirement of psychooncological treatment demand and its changes over time.

Methods: Data were collected using the following screening questionnaires: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Distress Thermometer (DT) as well as the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of cancer brain tumour module (EORTC QLQ-BN20). Retrospective cross-sectional analyses at 5 defined time points were performed using independent-sample T-tests, Pearson’s correlation and regression analyses.

Results: Data from 512 patients (291 male, 221 female) median age 56 years (range 19-86 years) were available for statistical analyses. Mean scores of HADS, DT and QLQ screening were perioperative high with lowering after 12 and 24 months and again increasing after 36 months to perioperative values. Female gender, psychic anamnesis and worse functional status were risk factors for higher HADS and DT scores. In patients with DT scores > 6 Pearson correlation revealed high correlation of DT and EORTC items consistently over all time points. Concerning histology patients with glioblastoma did not show significant differences in scoring compared to other patients. DT and Depression showed significant influence on global health, quality of life, future uncertainty and anxiety perioperative (p= < 0.001) and after 12 months (p = 0.02). After 36 months DT and anxiety had significant influence on screening variables (p= 0.005).

Conclusion: This study presents long term result of a large cohort of patients with malignant brain tumours. These patients suffer from distress, anxiety and depression, which correlates with worse quality of life and the occurrence is dependent on certain risk factors. The data contributes to a better understanding of the psychooncological burden of these patients and therefore helps to improve psychooncological support.