Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression in Prostate Cancer Patients and Their Spouses: An Unaddressed Reality

Abstract

Objectives. To estimate the prevalence of unsuspected anxiety or depression in prostate cancer patients and their spouses, as well as factors involved in its onset. Materials and Methods. A prospective study of 184 patients and 137 spouses evaluated in our hospital during 2019 using the Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer (MAX-PC), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Patient Health Questionnaire depression module (PHQ-9). This study provides an internal validity assessment of the scales and their correlation (alpha and rho coefficients; index r). The contributions of age, education level, months after diagnosis, pain, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, stage of the disease and treatment performed to the positivity of the questionnaires were studied using the Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney and chi-square tests. Results. The prevalence of anxiety was 10.9% (MAX-PC) and 28.3% (MAX-PC-PSA). The HADS-A questionnaire indicated pathology in 14.1% of the patients and 16.05% of the spouses. Depression was detected in 7% (HADS-D) and 9.2% (PHQ-9) of patients as well as in 8.8% (HADS-D) and 16.05% (PHQ-9) of their spouses. The greatest concordance between men and women was with the PHQ-9 (Spearman’s rho: 0.78; p=0.01). Education level is significantly related to the presence of anxiety and depression, regardless of the questionnaire applied. The probability of detecting pathology in the MAX-PC varied from 6% in patients with elementary education to 23.5% in university students (p=0.04). The greatest differences were detected when applying the PHQ-9 to patients (4% pathological, elementary education vs. 35.3% pathological, university education). Our study confirms the lack of a relationship between rates of anxiety and depression and factors such as PSA level, age of the patient and number of comorbidities. Conclusion. There is a high prevalence of unsuspected anxiety and depression in patients with prostate cancer and their wives. Education level correlates with such prevalence.