Gender features of depressive and anxious manifestations of the lung cancer patients

Abstract

The aim: To examine the features of depressive and anxiety phenomenology in lung cancer, taking into account the gender factor. Materials and methods: 112 patients with a primary diagnosis of stage II and III lung cancer were clinically and psychologically examined using HDRS, HARS, BDI, C. Spilberger’s Reactive and Personality Anxiety Scale. Results: It was found that the core affective psychopathological symptoms of patients with lung cancer are manifestations of depression (96.3% of men, 96.8% of women (p> 0.05), 96.4% together) and anxiety (77.8% , 93.5% (p<0.05) and 82.1%) in combination with asthenic-neurotic (67.9%, 61.3% (p> 0.05) and 66.1%) and affective labile (54.3%, 61.3% (p> 0.05) and 56.2%) manifestations; additional symptoms are apathetic (25.9%, 9.7% (p<0.05) and 21.4%), obsessive (19.8%, 38.7% (p<0.05) and 25.0%) and dysphoric (23.5%, 6.5% (p<0.05) and 18.7%) manifestations. The severity of depressive and anxiety of women is higher than of men; the severity of depressive-anxiety manifestations corresponds to a moderate level: depression by HDRS - 11.6±1.7 points, 15.6±6.3 points (p<0.05) and 12.7±4.0 points; BDI depression – 15.7±6.3 points, 23.7±13.9 points (p<0.05) and 17.9±9.7 points; HARS anxiety - 9.3±2.8 points, 11.5±3.7 points (p<0.05) and 9.9±3.2 points, and reactive anxiety - 44.4±11.1 points, 47.9±15.5 points (p<0.05) and 45.4±12.5 points. The identified differences can be explained by different gender models of psychological response. Conclusions: The core affective symptoms of patients with lung cancer are manifestations of depression and anxiety in combination with asthenic-neurotic and affective-labile manifestations; additional are apathetic, obsessive and dysphoric manifestations.