Table 2.
Frequency and severity of psychosocial problems at baseline and one-year follow-up
| Younger cancer patients | P value between group differencea | Older cancer patients | P value between group differenceb | Older persons without cancer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEPRESSION: | N = 163 | N = 101 | N = 192 | |||||
| Severity: mean (±SD) | ||||||||
| Baseline | 1.86 | (±2.28) | 0.10 | 2.15 | (±2.30) | 0.10 | 1.78 | (±2.03) |
| After one year | 2.51 | (±2.85) | 0.77 | 2.34 | (±2.29) | 0.10 | 1.86 | (±2.09) |
| P value within group difference | 0.02 | 0.35 | 0.58 | |||||
| Frequency: N (%) | ||||||||
| Baseline | 18 | (11 %) | 0.58 | 9 | (9 %) | 0.87 | 16 | (8 %) |
| After one year | 31 | (19 %) | 0.81 | 18 | (18 %) | 0.04 | 18 | (9 %) |
| P value within group difference | 0.02 | 0.04 | 0.80 | |||||
| COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING: | N = 195 | N = 89 | N = 214 | |||||
| Severity: mean (±SD) | ||||||||
| Baseline | 84.36 | (±22.36) | 0.40 | 88.01 | (±17.59) | 0.04 | 85.12 | (±16.41) |
| After one year | 82.05 | (±21.27) | 0.90 | 82.58 | (±19.28) | 0.65 | 84.27 | (±17.07) |
| P value within group difference | 0.10 | 0.01 | 0.48 | |||||
| Frequency: N (%) | ||||||||
| Baseline | 54 | (28 %) | 0.08 | 16 | (18 %) | 0.44 | 47 | (22 %) |
| After one year | 60 | (31 %) | 0.40 | 23 | (26 %) | 0.47 | 47 | (22 %) |
| P value within group difference | 0.51 | 0.14 | 1.00 | |||||
| FATIGUE: | N = 187 | N = 79 | N = 211 | |||||
| Severity: mean (±SD) | ||||||||
| Baseline | 3.99 | (±2.82) | 0.41 | 3.67 | (±2.77) | 0.17 | 4.14 | (±2.30) |
| After one year | 4.45 | (±2.66) | 0.30 | 4.10 | (±2.49) | 0.30 | 4.42 | (±2.31) |
| P value within group difference | 0.08 | 0.24 | 0.12 | |||||
| Frequency: N (%) | ||||||||
| Baseline | 98 | (52 %) | 0.91 | 42 | (53 %) | 0.57 | 120 | (57 %) |
| After one year | 112 | (60 %) | 0.31 | 42 | (53 %) | 0.19 | 130 | (62 %) |
| P value within group difference | 0.12 | 1.00 | 0.26 | |||||
Depression, cognitive functioning, and fatigue are presented as the mean score – indicated as the severity – and the proportion – indicated as frequency. Depression was measured with the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale, range 0 – 15, higher scores indicate more depression, cut-off ≥5 for frequency of depression. Cognitive functioning was measured with the cognitive functioning subscale of the EORTC QLQ-C30, range 0 – 100, lower scores indicate worse functioning, cut-off <67 for frequency of cognitive impairment. Fatigue was measured with a Visual Analogue Scale, range 0 – 10, higher scores indicate more fatigue, cut-off ≥4 for frequency of fatigue
aDifferences between older cancer patients and younger cancer patients
bDifferences between older cancer patients and older persons without cancer