Correlation between Visual Analog Scale and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 among Breast Cancer Patient at Islamic Hospital of Malahayati Medan

Abstract

World Health Organization reported that in 2018 the most prevalent cancer cases in Indonesia is breast cancer with a total of 58,256 cases (16.7%) from total cancer cases in Indonesia. Among cancer patients, pain is the most profound and definite effect that has been linked to reduced quality of life as well as the development of depression. In Indonesia, studies investigating the effect of pain among breast cancer patient with depression is still lacking.   The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of pain with depression among breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy at Islamic Hospital of Malahayati Medan.   Methods applied in this study was cross sectional numerical correlative study involved 35 breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy at Islamic Hospital of Malahayati Medan age 40 – 60 years old. In order to assess pain, we used the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and as for depression, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used. Pearson correlation test was used to assess the correlation between pain and depression   The results  showed that most of our subjects graduated from university, are already married and employed. Most are already at the third stadium with VAS score of around 4.89 + 1.530 indicating moderate pain and PHQ-9 score of 8.23 + 3.456 indicating mild depression. Pearson test showed r = 0.511 (mild strength) indicating that pain severity is correlated positively to depression severity.   Conclusion: There is a correlation between VAS score and PHQ-9 score among breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy at Islamic Hospital of Malahayati Medan.