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Suicidal ideation in patients undergoing brain tumor surgery: prevalence and risk factors

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Abstract

Purpose

Suicidal ideation (SI) is an important complication in cancer patients that should be promptly recognized and adequately managed. We investigated the prevalence rate and correlates of pre-operative SI in brain tumor (BT) patients admitted for elective BT surgery.

Methods

Two hundred and eleven consecutive patients (70 % women; mean age 55.9 ± 15.4 years) scheduled for BT surgery were evaluated for SI (“suicidal thought” item from the Beck Depression Inventory-II), depressive/anxiety symptom severity (Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS)), health-related quality of life (SF-36 scale), functional status (Barthel Index), and psychiatric histories and treatments. The majority of patients were diagnosed with meningioma (39 %) and high-grade glioma (17 %).

Results

SI was self-reported by 12 (6 %) patients. Patients expressing SI were most commonly diagnosed with meningioma (50 %). Patients with SI were more likely to have a past history of psychiatric disorders, scored higher on the HADS anxiety subscale, and reported worse health-related quality of life across physical and mental health domains. In multivariate regression analyses, worse perceived mental health was associated with increased risk for SI independently from clinical, sociodemographic, and other patient-oriented variables considered in the study.

Conclusions

SI was self-reported by 6 % of BT patients before surgical intervention and was associated with a past history of psychiatric disorders and worse perceived health status. Poor mental health was an independent correlate of SI. The perception of health status by a patient should be considered as an important determinant of poor mental health in BT patients.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Juste Buneviciute for her assistance with the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Institute, Laboratory of Clinical Research, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Eiveniu g. 4, LT-50009, Kaunas, Lithuania

    Aiste Pranckeviciene, Vytenis Pranas Deltuva, Arimantas Tamasauskas & Adomas Bunevicius

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Eiveniu g. 2, LT-50009, Kaunas, Lithuania

    Sarunas Tamasauskas, Vytenis Pranas Deltuva, Arimantas Tamasauskas & Adomas Bunevicius

  3. Behavioural Medicine Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Vydunas al. 4, Palanga, Lithuania

    Robertas Bunevicius

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  1. Aiste Pranckeviciene
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  2. Sarunas Tamasauskas
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  6. Adomas Bunevicius
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aiste Pranckeviciene.

Ethics declarations

The study protocol and consent procedure were approved by the Ethics Committee for Biomedical Research of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. Written informed consent was obtained from each study patient.

Funding

This study was funded by Research Council of Lithuania (project No. MIP-044/2015).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Authors state that they have full control of all primary data and agree to allow the journal to review it if requested.

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Pranckeviciene, A., Tamasauskas, S., Deltuva, V.P. et al. Suicidal ideation in patients undergoing brain tumor surgery: prevalence and risk factors. Support Care Cancer 24, 2963–2970 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3117-2

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