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. 2003 Dec;25(12):1004-18.
doi: 10.1002/hed.10336.

Depressive symptoms during and after radiotherapy for head and neck cancer

Susanne Sehlen  1 , Marcus Lenk, Peter Herschbach, Uelker Aydemir, Marc Dellian, Beatrice Schymura, Helmuth Hollenhorst, Eckhart Dühmke
Affiliations

Depressive symptoms during and after radiotherapy for head and neck cancer

Susanne Sehlen et al. Head Neck. 2003 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Patients with head and neck cancer are extraordinarily susceptible to depressive traits. Thus, a general screening of these patients at their first admission to the ital is desirable.

Methods: From 1997-2001, 133 patients with head and neck tumors filled in the Self-Rating-Depression-Scale (SDS) at the beginning and end of radiotherapy (ti1/ti2), 6 weeks, and 6 months after radiotherapy (ti3/ti4). RESULTS.: The SDS index increased significantly from 46.44 (ti1) to 48.91(ti2) (p =.025) and then remained stable. The subdomain "somatic-eating-related symptoms" at ti1 was significantly lower than ti2 (p <.001). In contrast to inpatients, outpatients and those with conventional instead of hyperfractionated-accelerated radiotherapy were less impaired by eating-related symptoms. Patients with higher education showed a lower SDS index and cognitive scale. Marital status, tumor stage, histologic grading, and substance abuse had no influence.

Conclusions: Patients with a higher risk of depression should receive long-term monitoring during and after the end of radiotherapy, and prompt intervention strategies should be applied.

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