LAUSR

Background Cancer treatments such as chemotherapy contribute to the development of depression and pain (1). Prevalence of pain ranges from 14% to 100% and depressed symptoms occur 1-42% in cancer patients (2). The empirical evidence indicates that pain is often untreated and may induce depression in cancer patients (1,2) and depression affects the management of symptoms such as pain (3). Therefore, depression and pain have interrelated effects with each other. Pain and depression in cancer patients lead to discontinuation of therapy, difficulties in controlling symptoms and negative treatment compliance (4). Studies report the need for more research on pain and depression associated with cancer treatment (2). Objectives The objectives of this study are to: 1) compare the depression levels of painful and painless cancer patients who received outpatient chemotherapy; and 2) investigate the relationship between pain and depression in these patients. Methods This study was carried out in outpatient chemotherapy unit of Hacettepe Oncology Hospital based in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. The visual analog scale (VAS) was used to investigate if the patients may have had pain. The Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) was of help to assess the pain severity and pain interference on the function of patients while the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was applied to evaluate depression. Results The study findings are based on the outcomes of 27 cancer outpatients receiving chemotherapy. Their mean age was 56.89±11.08 years (age range; 31–73). Almost half of the of patients had pain (48.15%). There was a difference between the depression scores of the patients who had pain and the other patients without pain but this is not statistically significant (p=.07). The depression scores of painful patients and non-painful patients were 13 and 6, respectively. There was a moderate association between scores of pain severity and depression (r=0.4, p=0.04). Moreover, there was a high association between the score of depression and pain interference on function (r=0.61, p=.016). Conclusion This study shows that pain is related with depression in cancer outpatients receiving chemotherapy. Depression may occur more frequently in patients who have experienced pain than in patients with no pain and also depression is likely to increase pain in cancer patients. Therefore, the addition of emotional and psychosocial components for treatment procedures and effective pain management may have positive effects on the treatment of cancer outpatients receiving chemotherapy. References [1] Kelly, Debra Lynch, et al. ”Relationships Among Fatigue, Anxiety, Depression, and Pain and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Behaviors in Women With Early-Stage Breast Cancer.”Cancer nursing (2019). [2] Patrick, D. L., et al. “National Institutes of Health State-of-the-Science Conference Statement: symptom management in cancer: pain, depression, and fatigue, July 15-17, 2002.” Journal of the National Cancer Institute 95.15 (2003): 1110-1117. [3] Mercadante, Sebastiano, et al. ”Symptom hyper-expression in advanced cancer patients with anxiety and depression admitted to an acute supportive/palliative care unit.”Supportive Care in Cancer (2019): 1-8. [4] Güleç, Gülcan, et al. “Anxiety, depression and coping behaviors with pain in cancer patients who are aware or unaware of their cancer.” Ağrı-The Journal of The Turkish Society of Algology 29.3 (2017): 109-116. Disclosure of Interests None declared