Table 3.
Association of pretreatment patient and clinical characteristics with patient‐reported moderate, severe, or very severe depression and anxiety during treatment
| Anxiety | Depression | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | n (%) | p value | n (%) | p value |
| Age, years, mean (SD) | 57.4 (13.7) | .811 | 58.6 (13.2) | .312 |
| Race | 0.668 | .748 | ||
| White | 41.5 | 25.5 | ||
| Non‐White | 38.2 | 27.9 | ||
| Education | .167 | .187 | ||
| High school or less | 53.3 | 36.7 | ||
| More than high school | 39.1 | 24.9 | ||
| Marital status | .021 | .010 | ||
| Married | 33.8 | 19.4 | ||
| Unmarried | 48.7 | 33.9 | ||
| Living alone | .876 | .862 | ||
| Yes | 38.9 | 27.8 | ||
| No | 41.3 | 25.9 | ||
| Employment (hours/week) | .058 | .035 | ||
| Less than 32 | 45.0 | 30.4 | ||
| 32 or more | 32.1 | 17.9 | ||
| Stage | .212 | .395 | ||
| I | 31.8 | 25.4 | ||
| II | 45.2 | 23.4 | ||
| III | 41.2 | 32.4 | ||
| Chemotherapy regimen | .798 | .317 | ||
| Anthracycline‐based | 41.7 | 29.6 | ||
| Not anthracycline‐based | 39.7 | 23.4 | ||
| Patient Karnofsky performance status | .023 | .021 | ||
| Less than 80 | 66.7 | 50.0 | ||
| 80 or higher | 37.7 | 23.4 | ||
| Social Activity Limitations score | .003 a | <.001 a | ||
| Less than 50 (greater limitations) | 68.6 | 57.1 | ||
| 50 or higher (fewer limitations) | 39.4 | 23.3 | ||
| Social support—emotional | .147 | .689 | ||
| None/little | 75.0 | 37.5 | ||
| Some/most/all | 43.8 | 27.6 | ||
| Social support—tangible | .253 | .197 | ||
| None/little | 61.5 | 46.2 | ||
| Some/most/all | 43.2 | 26.6 | ||
| Medications | .001 | .190 | ||
| Any | 53.9 | 30.8 | ||
| None | 31.5 | 23.1 | ||
| SSRI b | .037 | .244 | ||
| Yes | 56.1 | 34.2 | ||
| No | 37.9 | 24.7 | ||
| SNRI b | .020 | .080 | ||
| Yes | 85.7 | 57.1 | ||
| No | 39.6 | 25.4 | ||
| Benzodiazepine b | .001 | .413 | ||
| Yes | 34.8 | 30.2 | ||
| No | 58.7 | 25.0 | ||
| Other b | .829 | .223 | ||
| Yes | 37.5 | 37.5 | ||
| No | 41.3 | 25.1 | ||
| Baseline medication dose increased c | .232 | .397 | ||
| Yes | 83.3 | 50.0 | ||
| No | 55.2 | 32.2 | ||
| Medications added c | .292 | .435 | ||
| Any | 50.0 | 32.5 | ||
| None | 39.9 | 25.8 | ||
| SSRI | .496 | .705 | ||
| Yes | 55.6 | 33.3 | ||
| No | 41.1 | 26.6 | ||
| SNRI | .327 | .025 | ||
| Yes | 60.0 | 60.0 | ||
| No | 40.8 | 25.4 | ||
| Benzodiazepine | .289 | .634 | ||
| Yes | 52.0 | 32.0 | ||
| No | 40.4 | 26.3 | ||
| Other antidepressant or anxiolytic | .695 | 0.999 | ||
| Yes | 50.0 | 16.7 | ||
| No | 41.4 | 27.2 | ||
| Psychiatric diagnosis c | <.001 | <.001 | ||
| Any | 55.2 | 41.7 | ||
| None | 31.9 | 16.9 | ||
| Depression | <.001 | <.001 | ||
| Yes | 66.0 | 50.9 | ||
| No | 34.0 | 19.7 | ||
| Anxiety | <.001 | .001 | ||
| Yes | 66.7 | 47.6 | ||
| No | 35.5 | 22.0 | ||
| Adjustment disorder | .162 | .608 | ||
| Yes | 39.8 | 40.0 | ||
| No | 80.0 | 25.9 | ||
| Bipolar disorder | 0.999 | 0.999 | ||
| Yes | 50.0 | 25.0 | ||
| No | 40.5 | 26.2 | ||
| Substance use disorder | .399 | 0.999 | ||
| Yes | 60.0 | 20.0 | ||
| No | 40.2 | 26.3 | ||
| Other | .208 | .294 | ||
| Yes | 20.0 | 40.0 | ||
| No | 41.5 | 25.6 | ||
| Mental health specialty care c | <.001 | <.0001 | ||
| Yes | 74.4 | 58.1 | ||
| No | 34.5 | 20.1 | ||
a
p < .05 after adjustment for marital status, employment, performance status, and social activity limitations.
b
Compares those who did and did not receive medications in the entire study population (not exclusive to the subset receiving psychotropic medications).
c
Medications, psychiatric diagnoses, and mental health care were evaluated over the entire treatment period. All other associations were with variables measured at baseline.
Abbreviations: SNRI, serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor; SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.