Psychosocial morbidity and survival in adult bone marrow transplant recipients - A follow-up study

Previous reports have suggested that the presence of depression and other psychosocial variables may be associated with a poorer prognosis post bone marrow transplantation. Fifty-six patients had both unstructured clinical interviews and interviews using a structured diagnostic instrument (the Composite International Diagnostic Interview) and were followed up a mean of 82.1 months post-BMT. Of these, 42 patients were also interviewed using the Mental Attitude to Cancer Scale. Survival analysis revealed that factors such as depression or the presence of fighting spirit as the predominant coping style did not correlate with length of survival. Our results imply that survival may be more closely related to physical rather than psychosocial factors.