European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PANCREATIC CANCER AND DEPRESSION

Suprada S. Vinyak, Praveen Kumar Vodala, Sajiny John, Ibrahim Mohammad Sabri, Bharathi Dharavath, Srinivasa Rajasekhar Kata and *Rono Korra

ABSTRACT

Background: Pancreatic cancer has very poor prognosis. Also, the surgical intervention is very high as compared to other cancers. This is associated with high depression and anxiety in the patients. In this study, we tried to study the effects of depression in benign and pancreatic cancer patients. Methods: We took a total of 56 patients who were diagnosed to have pancreatic cancer. PHQ-9 score was measured in all the patients at the time of the diagnosis. We even measured the PHQ-9 scores of the patients 3 months and 6 months post-operatively. Responses were analysed by two-way ANOVA and Spearman Correlation coefficient. Results: Out of 56 patients, 37 patients were diagnosed to have pancreatic cancer and 19 patients were diagnosed to have benign pancreatic lesion. The PHQ-9 scores in Benign Pancreatic lesion and Pancreatic Carcinoma patients were 18±1.47 and 19±2.12 respectively. Post-operatively after 3 months, the scores were 18±1.68 in Benign Pancreatic lesion and 22±1.24 in Pancreatic Carcinoma patients. At 6 months post-op, the scores were 16±1.26 in Benign Pancreatic lesion and 25±1.47 in Pancreatic Carcinoma patients. The p-value was calculated and it was 0.023. Conclusion: There is a high incidence of depression in the pancreatic cancer patients since diagnosis and it increases after 3 months and 6 months post-operatively as compared to benign pancreatic lesions.

Keywords: Pancreatic cancer, anxiety, pancreatic.