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Evaluation of the psychological burden during the early disease trajectory in patients with intracranial tumors by the ultra-brief Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression and Anxiety (PHQ-4)

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Abstract

Purpose

Depressive symptoms of patients with intracranial tumors need to be assessed adequately. The Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression and Anxiety (PHQ-4) is an ultra-short screening tool consisting of four items, a cutoff of six indicates depressive symptoms. The aim was to assess patients’ psychological burden by the PHQ-4 compared with the results of well-established screening instruments.

Methods

Patients were screened three times after primary diagnosis postoperatively (t1), after 3 (t2) and 6 (t3) months using the PHQ-4, the Hornheide Screening Instrument (HSI), the NCCN Distress Thermometer (DT), and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Core Questionnaire with its brain module (EORTC QLQ-C30 + BN20). Demographic, tumor-related data, and Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) were analyzed. A cutoff value for PHQ-4 indicating a need for support or increased distress was determined by applying receiver operating characteristic (ROC).

Results

The proportion of patients reaching a total score ≥ 6 was n = 32 out of 139 (23%) at t1; at t2, n = 12 out of 117 (10%) scored ≥ 6. At t3, n = 8 out of 96 (8%) scored ≥ 6. At t1, PHQ-4 scores did not differ significantly between gender, age groups, and tumor laterality. A cutoff value of 2.5 was identified to moderately discriminate between patients in or not in distress (sensitivity 76.8%) and between patients wishing further, specific support or not (sensitivity 82.5%).

Conclusion

The PHQ4 can be applied in this patient cohort to detect those with relevant psychological comorbidities. The cutoff value should be re-evaluated in a larger cohort as we observed that a cutoff of 6, as recommended previously, may be too high in order to detect affected patients adequately.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all patients who participated in the study. We acknowledge all further members of our study group—Markus Haug, Susanne Janz, Güler Savas and Stefan Kindel—for the tremendous support. This work contains parts of the dissertation of Isabell Neppel, Sari Soebianto and Helena Tsakmaklis. This study was funded by the Friedhelm Frees Stiftung, Mainz, Germany.

Funding

The study was supported by the Friedhelm Frees Stiftung, Mainz, Germany. The authors have no financial relationship with the organization that sponsored the research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, University Medical Center, Johannes-Gutenberg-University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    Mirjam Renovanz, Sari Soebianto, Helena Tsakmaklis, Naureen Keric & Florian Ringel

  2. Interdisciplinary Division of Neurooncology, Departments of Neurology & Neurosurgery, University Medical Center Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Mirjam Renovanz

  3. Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum Stuttgart, Katharinenhospital, Stuttgart, Germany

    Minou Nadji-Ohl & Anne-Katrin Hickmann

  4. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Johannes-Gutenberg-University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    Manfred Beutel

  5. Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University Medical Center, Johannes-Gutenberg-University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    Daniel Wollschläger

  6. Department of Neurosurgery, Kantonsspital St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Anne-Katrin Hickmann

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  1. Mirjam Renovanz
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Correspondence to Mirjam Renovanz.

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Renovanz, M., Soebianto, S., Tsakmaklis, H. et al. Evaluation of the psychological burden during the early disease trajectory in patients with intracranial tumors by the ultra-brief Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression and Anxiety (PHQ-4). Support Care Cancer 27, 4469–4477 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-019-04718-z

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