Psychiatric morbidity among Egyptian breast cancer patients and their partners and its impact on surgical decision-making

Abstract

Introduction: Psychiatric morbidities, especially cases of anxiety and depression, are prevalent among breast cancer patients and their partners. Patients and methods: Fifty-four early diagnosed breast cancer patients and their partners were compared with 50 healthy couples to assess psychiatric morbidity and the impact of various factors upon patients' surgical choice. Results: It was found that 18.5%, 22.2%, and 3.7% of husbands had generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and panic disorder, respectively. It was also found that 38.8%, 29.6%, and 9.2% of the patients had major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder, respectively. Depression and anxiety scores were high in both partners in love-based, well-adjusted marriages, within the middle socioeconomic class, and among educated couples. Among the well-known factors related to surgical treatment choice (age, parity, tumor size, pathology, grade, lymph node status), only age and psychological morbidity (in the patients and their partners) had a significant impact on treatment choice. Conclusion: Patients of middle socioeconomic class, the well educated, and those in love-based marriages had a higher likelihood of suffering different types of psychological morbidities and were more likely to choose breast conservation or reconstruction than mastectomy. © 2012 El-Hadidy et al, publisher and licensee Dove Medical Press Ltd.