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Post-traumatic stress in head and neck cancer survivors and their partners

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Abstract

Purpose

Head and neck cancer (HNC) diagnosis and treatment are distressing and have immediate detrimental impacts on functioning and quality of life (QoL). Nevertheless, little is known about long-term psychosocial effects. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and correlates of clinical post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and subclinical post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in HNC patients surviving more than 2 years since treatment and in their partners.

Methods

HNC survivors identified from the cancer registry of a London hospital and their partners completed measures of PTSS, depression and anxiety, fear of cancer recurrence, social support, appearance concerns and health-related QoL. Data regarding their clinical and demographic characteristics were also collected. Correlations, as well as linear and logistic regression coefficients, were calculated to estimate associations with PTSS scores.

Results

In this analysis of 93 HNC survivors, at a mean of 6 years (SD = 4) after treatment, 33.4% reported PTSS and 11.8% met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Fear of cancer recurrence was independently associated with PTSS (p < .01). In subgroup analyses of patient-partner dyads, 15.4% of patients and 12.8% of partners reported PTSD, with a further 33.3% of patients and 25.7% of partners demonstrating PTSS. Patients’ and partners’ scores did not differ significantly (p > .05).

Conclusions

This is the first examination of post-traumatic stress in survivors of HNC and shows that high levels of cancer-related PTSS exist for many years after diagnosis in both patients and their partners.

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Notes

  1. 4/39 caregivers were family members other than partners.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Doctoral Scholarship from Saving Faces—The Facial Surgery Research Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Psychiatry, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, EC1A 7BE, UK

    Elisavet Moschopoulou, Kamaldeep Bhui & Ania Korszun

  2. Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, Whitechapel, London, E1 1BB, UK

    Iain Hutchison

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  1. Elisavet Moschopoulou
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Correspondence to Elisavet Moschopoulou.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Moschopoulou, E., Hutchison, I., Bhui, K. et al. Post-traumatic stress in head and neck cancer survivors and their partners. Support Care Cancer 26, 3003–3011 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-018-4146-9

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