The depression and related factors among cancer patients and their family caregivers in Turkish Population

INTRODUCTION: Depression has been reported as 29% in frequency among cancer patients. The presence of depression negatively effect both the patients and their family member who provide the care the patients. In the present study we evaluated the presence of depression in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and their caregivers and the relatioship between socio-demographical factors and daily social activities with depression.
METHODS: Totally,302 cancer patients and 302 family caregiver of them were evaluated. Depression was analyzed with Beck Depression Invantery(BDI). The cut-off value for depression was 17 and the socio-demograpfical factors related with depression were analyzed.
RESULTS: Depression scores was higher in patients then their caregivers(12.5vs8). Insufficent information about disease and rare social activities were related with depression for both cancer patients and their caregivers.By correlation analysis, educational level, occupational status and income were inversely related with depression but the knowing the the diagnosis of the patients by caregiver was positively related with depression. The presence of symptom and family visit were independent predicting factor for depression of patients.On the other hand family visit and income were important independent factors for caregiver depression.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Findings of the predicting factor of depression for both patients and their caregiver according to culturel diversity may help treatment management and improve the quality of the life.

Türk Toplumunda kanserli hastalar ve yakýnlarý arasýndaki depresyon ve depresyonla iliþkili faktörler

GÝRÝÞ ve AMAÇ: Kanserli hastalar arasýnda depresyon oraný %29 olarak bildirilmiþtir. Depresyon varlýðý, hem hastayý, hem de hastaya bakmakla yükümlü aile üyelerini olumsuz yönde etkiler. Bu çalýþmada, kemoterapi alan hastalar ve onlara bakmakla yükümlü yakýnlarýnda depresyon varlýðýný, sosyo-demografik faktörler ve günlük aktivitelerin depresyonla iliþkisini deðerlendirdik.
YÖNTEM ve GEREÇLER: Toplam 302 kanser hastasý ve 302 yakýnýný inceledik. Depresyonu Beck Depresyon Envanteri (BDE) ile deðerlendirdik. Depresyon için sýnýr deðeri 17 olarak kabul ettik ve depresyonla iliþkili sosyo-demografik özellikleri analiz ettik.
BULGULAR: Depresyon skorlarý hasta grupta yakýnlarýna göre daha yüksekti(12,5 ile 8). Hastalýðý yeterince bilmeme, günlük sosyal aktivitelerde kýsýtlýlýk, hem hasta hem yakýnlarýnda depresyon varlýðý ile iliþkiliydi.Korrelasyon analizi ile hasta yakýnlarýnda, eðitim seviyesi, iþ durumu, aylýk gelir depresyonla ters orantýlý iken, hastanýn hastalýðýný bilme, depresyonla iliþkiliydi. Hastalar için ise, semptom varlýðý, aile ziyaretleri, depresyonu predikte eden faktörlerdi. Bununla beraber, hasta yakýnlarý için aile ziyaretleri ve aylýk gelir depresyonu predikte eden baðýmsýz faktörler olarak bulundu.
TARTIÞMA ve SONUÇ: Hem hasta, hem de yakýnlarýnda kültürel farklýlýklar bazýnda depresyonu predikte eden faktörleri tesbit etmek, tedaviye yardýmcý olacaðý gibi hayat kalitelerinin de artmasýna yardýmcý olacaktýr.