| dc.description.abstract | Abstract in English
Background
Anxiety, depression, and weight loss are common among patients with pancreatic cancer (PC) and is associated with poor treatment efficacy, overall survival, and quality of life (QOL) for both patients and their families. This thesis explored Early Palliative Cares (EPC) impact on symptoms of anxiety, depression, appetite and weight loss, additionally possible associations between these outcomes. In addition, we explored difference in prevalence of symptoms anxiety and depression between PC patients and gastrointestinal cancers (GI).
Method
Secondary statistical analysis of survey data from the Palliative care Integrated in Oncology (PALLiON) trial previously unexplored in the initial publication. Measurements of symptoms of anxiety, depression appetite and weight measurements were utilized.
Results
We found no significant difference between the intervention and control group after 8 weeks. There was significant difference in appetite between patients with low and high depression symptoms, but not in median weight loss. Amongst patients with weight loss >5% we found a significant association with high depression symptom burden. The prevalence of anxiety was too low for meaningful analyses. There was no significant difference between the PC and GI sample.
Conclusion
The EPC interventions implemented in PALLiON did not influence the outcomes of interest. We found an association between poor appetite and the severity of depressive symptoms, and amongst the patients with weight loss >5%, high depression symptom burden was common. Methodological challenges made it challenging to conclude and generalize the results and there is a need for more research.
Keywords: Pancreatic cancer, early palliative care, weight loss, depression, anxiety | |
