Factors affecting depression, anxiety, and quality of life in patients receiving radiotherapy for gastric cancer

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the quality of life, anxiety, and depression levels in gastric cancer patients receiving radiotherapy. We also investigated the impact of demographic, clinical, pathological, and laboratory data on the quality of life, anxiety, and depression levels. Methods: We designed this prospective observational study that enrolled gastric cancer patients treated in the Radiation Oncology Department of Kayseri City Education and Research Hospital. Patients were requested to complete questionnaires on the first day of their adjuvant radiotherapy and six months after treatment completion. We utilized the clinical data collection form, the European Cancer Treatment and Organization Committee Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) scale forms, and we analyzed statistically the data obtained. Results: Fifty-one gastric cancer patients with a mean age of 67.1 years and 64 % males were included in the study. We found no statistically significant difference when comparing HADS scores with demographic, clinical, and pathological data. When we compared the mean scores of the EORTC QLQ-C30 with the clinicopathological characteristics of the patients, the difference was significant between gender, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. When we performed subgroup analysis for the scales examined on the first day of radiotherapy and six months later, we found the results to be significant for fatigue, pain, financial difficulty, global health, and dyspnea for chemotherapy; role function, dyspnea, constipation, and financial situation for radiotherapy; and role function, pain, dyspnea, and insomnia for gender. Conclusion: We demonstrated that gender, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy affected the quality of life in patients with gastric cancer, but we found no relationship between depression, anxiety, and quality of life. HIPPOKRATIA 2024, 28 (2):56-64.