Estrogen receptor expression and depressive mood disorders in untreated breast cancer patients

Women newly admitted to hospital for suspect breast lump (99) were blind studied 5+/-3 days before diagnosis. Depression was evaluated by using DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria and MMPI psychometric test; estrogen receptor (ER) by DCC. High prevalence of depressive mood disorders and particularly of dysthymia were observed in patients with ER(-) tumors (p=0.03), that scored low in MMPI 9-Ma scale (p<0.001) and high in TA index (p=0.01) as expression of depressed mood. On the contrary ER(+) patients showed higher mean values in almost all the MMPI scales and indexes (AV p<0.01; AS p<0.03). In conclusion depressive mood have different prevalence in untreated breast cancer patients depending on ER status.