The prevalence of stress and depression and their correlation with quality of life among breast cancer patients

Abstract

Abstract Background: Pakistan has the greatest rate of breast cancer in Asia, majority of the people are underprivileged to afford expensive lab investigations, which lead to late diagnoses and delayed treatment; therefore, one of nine is at risk of breast cancer. Aim: The study was conducted with the aim of determining the quality of life and psychological well-being and their associations with each other. Methodology: A cross-sectional study design was used from April to July 2023 in the two tertiary care hospitals in Khyber Pukhtankhwa, Pakistan, with a sample size of 108 and purposive sampling technique. Three valid and reliable questionnaires were used for data collection, i.e. the EORTC QLQ-C45 for quality of life, the major depressive inventory for depression, and the perceived stress inventory for stress. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANNOVA, and the chi-square test. Results: The overall QOL was average, while the majority of the patients suffer from high depression (83%), and moderate stress (62%). The age group 51 and above and being married quality of life was better, while the majority of the patient sexual satisfaction was a little bit. The age group 20–30 years (27.2%), stage 3 and 4 (44.4%), and being married (61.1%) levels of depression were high; on the other hand, the age group 20–30 years (21.2%), stage 1 and 2 (35.1%), and being married (46.2%) levels of stress were moderate. Conclusion: The study establishes that domains of quality of life are affected by depression but not by stress and correlated mildly positively with age and marital status and moderately with stages of cancer. Therefore, the health care provider should assess patients for psychological issues to find useful measures for early management that will improve quality of life.