Depression in brain tumor patients-early detection and screening

Area of Science:

• Neuro-oncology
• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Depression affects up to 90% of cancer patients.
• A standardized depression screening tool for brain tumor patients is currently lacking.
• This gap necessitates the development of a tailored screening approach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an adapted depression screening tool for brain tumor patients.
• To identify an optimal screening time point post-neurosurgical intervention.
• To assess depression prevalence and screening efficiency in specific tumor subgroups.

Main Methods:

• Interviews were conducted with 61 patients pre-neurosurgical resection.
• Established depression scores and a study-specific questionnaire (SSQ) were utilized.
• Analysis included subgroups of benign tumors, malignant tumors, and glioblastoma (GBM).

Main Results:

• 87.5% of glioblastoma (GBM) patients showed elevated depression scores (CES-D > 16) post-surgery.
• Depression scores (CES-D) increased over time in malignant tumor patients (p=0.0491) and decreased in benign tumor patients (p=0.0058).
• A prototype screening tool was established; screening 35 days post-surgery yielded a low number needed to screen (1.59) for GBM.

Conclusions:

• Routine depression screening is strongly encouraged for glioblastoma (GBM) patients 35 days post-surgery.
• The high prevalence and low number needed to screen in GBM patients support this recommendation.
• Further validation of the developed screening questionnaire is warranted.