The effect of the psychological status of breast cancer patients on the short-term clinical outcome after mastectomy

PURPOSE: to analyze the effect of anxiety and depression on the postoperative complications and length of hospitalization of patients with breast cancer. Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were filled out by the patients pre-operatively. Patients were asked to rate their pain by the visual analogue scale (VAS) after surgery. Age, seroma volume, day of drain withdrawal, complications, and pathological stages were noted. The median age of 49 patients with the diagnosis of breast cancer was 51 (36-80). There was a significant correlation between the pain score and Beck, HADS, HADS (anxiety) and HADS (depression) (8 hours ; p = 0.021, 0.001, 0.004, 0.005 and 24 hours ; p = 0.005, 0.012, 0.006, 0.120). The mean HADS depression score in those patients with complications was 9.1 +/- 4.2 and that of patients with no complications was 6.6 +/- 3.1 (p = 0.047). The mean hospital stay of patients with a normal HADS score (< 19) was 2.9 +/- 1.1 days, whilst that of patients with an abnormal HADS score was 3.8 +/- 1.2 days (p = 0.016). Patients with abnormal HADS anxiety and abnormal HADS (total) scores had an earlier stage of breast cancer (p = 0.077, p = 0.063). The psychological status of breast cancer patients effects their postoperative recovery period and it is easy to diagnose these patients by some brief questionnaires.