Prevalence and its associated psychological variables of symptoms of depression and anxiety among ovarian cancer patients in China: a cross-sectional study

Chun Li Liu, Li Liu, Yi Zhang, Xiao Ze Dai, Hui Wu

It is well known that cancer patients tend to have high levels of perceived stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, there is less study on the association between perceived stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety among ovarian cancer patients in China. And the mediating effect of hope and resilience needs to be further studied. In this study, we aim to examine the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms, to analyze the association between perceived stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety, and to test whether hope and resilience mediate the association of perceived stress with symptoms of depression and anxiety among Chinese patients with ovarian cancer. A total of 220 questionnaires were distributed and collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University and Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University. All participants in this study were ovarian cancer inpatients. After excluding the incomplete questionnaires, 198 questionnaires were valid for the analysis. Qualified patients were asked to response to the questionnaires including Hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), perceived stress scale (PSS-10), and the Herth hope scale and the resilience scale. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the associations among perceived stress, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and hope and resilience. Bootstrapping method was conducted to examine whether the indirect effect of hope and resilience was significant respectively. The prevalence of symptoms of depression and anxiety in ovarian cancer patients was 47.0% and 51.5% respectively. Perceived stress correlated significantly with symptoms of depression (r = 0.709, P < 0.01) and anxiety (r = 0.660, P < 0.01). Hope (a*b = 0.155, BCa 95% CI: 0.094, 0.223) partly mediated the association between perceived stress and symptoms of depression; similarly, hope (a*b = 0.129, BCa 95% CI: 0.048, 0.205) partly mediated the effect of perceived stress on symptoms of anxiety. However, resilience (a*b = 0.004, BCa 95% CI: -0.030, 0.040) did not mediate the association between perceived stress and symptoms of depression. And resilience (a*b = 0.041,BCa 95% CI: -0.013, 0.098) did not mediate the association between perceived stress and symptoms of anxiety. The present study suggests that perceived stress might be one of the impact factors of symptoms of depression and anxiety, while hope might ease symptoms of depression and anxiety. In view of the role of hope, medical workers and patient caregivers should pay more attention to hope, and then to intervene perceived stress among patients with ovarian cancer.