Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms in Patients Requesting Cosmetic Breast Surgery in Midwestern Brazil

Background: The prevalence of depressive symptoms (DS) before cosmetic breast surgery was analyzed in the public (PbI) and private (PrI) institutions, comparing types of surgery and patients' sociodemographic characteristics. Methods: A cross-sectional, observational, analytical study to evaluate the prevalence of DS in 185 patients of 18-71 years of age requesting 4 different cosmetic breast surgeries (with and without implants) at public and private institutions. Patients were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory and analyzed for statistical comparison. Results: The most common surgical procedures were reduction mammoplasty in the PbI and augmentation mammoplasty in the PrI. The prevalence of the positive risk for depressive disorder (15 points in Beck Depression Inventory) in the PbI was 25.8%, whereas in the PrI: 11.4% (P = 0.012). Moderate and severe DS were, respectively, 120% and 242% higher in the PbI than in the PrI. No patients requesting mastopexy without implants had DS. The highest prevalence (51.4%) of DS occurred in patients with breast implants indications (augmentation mammoplasty and mastopexy with implants). The presence (P = 0.12) or absence (P = 0.33) of implant did not demonstrate a higher risk of DS. Among all patients, 7% answered positively to the statements on suicide ideation, with predominance within the group of implants (54.5%). There were significant differences between the PbI and PrI. Conclusions: The prevalence of DS was high (18.9%), with the risk being 2.3 times greater in the PbI. Patients from PbI and PrI showed significant different profiles. Patients for breast implants showed a higher score for suicide ideation.