Psychological predictors of survival in cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy

In a prospective study to identify psychological factors affecting survival in cancer patients receiving radiation therapy, 101 consecutive patients were evaluated for anxiety, depression, and perception of the seriousness of the condition. In 3 years, the survivors were compared to the nonsurvivors. The survivors had significantly higher mean trait anxiety (p less than 0.05) than the nonsurvivors. State anxiety and depression scores also tended to be higher in the survivors (p less than 0.01). Self-assessment of the seriousness of their disease did not differentiate the two groups. The nonsurvivors had significantly more pain (p less than 0.05). Within the nonsurvivor group, survival time was negatively correlated with state anxiety (p less than 0.01), trait anxiety (p less than 0.02), and depression (p less than 0.01). In the nonsurvivors, women rated their condition to be significantly more serious than men (p less than 0.01). Female nonsurvivors tended to rate their condition to be more serious than female survivors (p less than 0.1), while male nonsurvivors rated their condition to be significantly less serious than male survivors (p less than 0.01). Only among female nonsurvivors did the seriousness rating correlate significantly with anxiety (p less than 0.01). The sex differences confirm our previous finding that men may tend to cope with cancer with more massive denial than women. We hypothesize that patients with higher anxiety and depression in the nonsurvivor group had a massive defensive failure, while those who had high anxiety levels in the survivor group had been more realistic about their disease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)