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Weight loss after head and neck cancer: A dynamic relationship with depressive symptoms
Julia R Van Liew1, Rebecca L Brock2, Alan J Christensen1,3
1Department of Psychology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.
Background:
Weight loss and depressive symptoms are critical head and neck cancer outcomes, yet their relation over the illness course is unclear.
Methods:
Associations between self-reported depressive symptoms and objective weight loss across the year after head and neck cancer diagnosis were examined using growth curve modeling techniques (n = 564).
Results:
A reciprocal covariation pattern emerged-changes in depressive symptoms over time were associated with same-month changes in weight loss (t [1148] = 2.05; p = .041), and changes in weight loss were associated with same-month changes in depressive symptoms (t [556] = 2.43; p = .015). To the extent that depressive symptoms increased, patients lost incrementally more weight than was lost due to the passage of time and vice versa. Results also suggested that pain and eating-related quality of life might explain the reciprocal association between depressive symptoms and weight loss.
Conclusion:
In head and neck cancer, a transactional interplay between depressive symptoms and weight loss unfolds over time. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 39: 370-379, 2017.
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