Age and gender differences in anxiety and depression in cancer patients compared with the general population

Objective The aim of this study was to compare the levels of anxiety and depression in cancer patients with those of the general population, to examine age and gender differences in anxiety and depression, to analyse the impact of several socio‐demographic and clinical parameters on anxiety and depr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of cancer care Vol. 28; no. 5; pp. e13129 - n/a
Main Authors: Hinz, Andreas, Herzberg, Philipp Yorck, Lordick, Florian, Weis, Joachim, Faller, Hermann, Brähler, Elmar, Härter, Martin, Wegscheider, Karl, Geue, Kristina, Mehnert, Anja
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.09.2019
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age
Age Factors
Aged
Anxiety
Anxiety - epidemiology
Anxiety - psychology
Anxiety Disorders - epidemiology
Anxiety Disorders - psychology
Cancer
Case-Control Studies
Demographics
depression
Depression - epidemiology
Depression - psychology
Depressive Disorder - epidemiology
Depressive Disorder - psychology
Female
Gender
Gender aspects
Gender differences
Germany - epidemiology
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
Humans
Impact analysis
Invariance
Male
measurement invariance
Mental depression
Metastases
Middle Aged
Neoplasm Staging
Neoplasms - pathology
Neoplasms - psychology
Oncology
Patients
Population
Sex differences
Sex Factors
Subgroups
Tumors
Young Adult
Germany
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
anxiety
cancer
depression
measurement invariance
gender differences
ISSN:0961-5423, 1365-2354, 1365-2354
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Objective The aim of this study was to compare the levels of anxiety and depression in cancer patients with those of the general population, to examine age and gender differences in anxiety and depression, to analyse the impact of several socio‐demographic and clinical parameters on anxiety and depression, and to test the age and gender measurement invariance of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Methods A sample of 3,785 German patients with cancer and a sample of 2,747 people of the German general population were examined using the HADS. Results Patients with cancer were more anxious but slightly less depressed than age‐ and gender‐matched individuals of the general population. Young patients with cancer were particularly affected by anxiety. Measurement invariance across gender and age could be established. For all analysed clinical variables, including tumour site, tumour stage, metastases, setting and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status we found no significant interaction effects with gender that exceeded the 5% significance criterion. Conclusion The HADS provides fair comparisons between age and gender groups. Gender differences in anxiety and depression can be generalised across the cancer sites and clinical subgroups. Young patients with cancer deserve special attention by the healthcare system.
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ISSN:0961-5423
1365-2354
1365-2354
DOI:10.1111/ecc.13129