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Gender Differences in Psychological Distress in Patients with Colorectal Cancer and Its Correlates in the Northeast of Iran

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Abstract

Purpose

Colorectal cancer has a significant impact on patients’ physical, psychological, and social aspects. This study aimed to examine the gender difference in anxiety and depression and its relationship with some of the characteristics of the disease and demographic in the northeast of Iran.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, patients with colorectal cancer aged over 18 years who were admitted to hospitals, without considering the disease stage and type of treatment, were enrolled during 2014–2016. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) Questionnaire was completed via interview.

Results

A total of 303 survivors of colorectal cancer were included in the current analysis, of whom 55.1% (167) were male. The overall frequency of depression was 44.9%, and it was 38.3% and 32.9% for men and women, respectively. The overall frequency of anxiety was 53.4% (50.3% and 57.4% for men and women, respectively). The results showed that compared to men, women (52%) were more likely to report depression (OR = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.22–1.04, P = 0.065); in contrast, men (12%) were less likely than women to report anxiety (OR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.38–2.03, P = 0.779), which was less than 12% in men. Among other variables, education and employment were identified as independent and strong predictive variables for depression and anxiety.

Conclusions

The frequency of anxiety and depression is high among colorectal cancer survivors, especially in women. Therefore, screening for psychological distress is recommended in clinical settings and there is a need to pay attention to women.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully thank all patients and their families who participated in this study.

Funding

This study was supported by the Research Council of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Healthy Ageing Research Centre, Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, Neyshabur, Iran

    Nayyereh Aminisani & Morteza Shamshirgaran

  2. Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

    Hossein-Ali Nikbakht

  3. Division of GI/Liver, Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Layla Shojaie

  4. Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Esmat Jafari

Authors
  1. Nayyereh Aminisani
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  2. Hossein-Ali Nikbakht
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  5. Morteza Shamshirgaran
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Contributions

(I) Conception and design: all authors; (II) administrative support: none; (III) provision of study materials or patients: none; (IV) collection and assembly of data: E Jafari, N Aminisani, M Shamshirgaran; (V) data analysis and interpretation: all authors; (VI) manuscript writing: all authors; (VII) final approval of manuscript: all authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hossein-Ali Nikbakht.

Ethics declarations

This study was conducted in compliance with the provisions of the Helsinki Declaration. The protocol was approved by the ethics committee of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (TBZMED.REC.1394.704).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent

All patients completed an informed consent form before the interview session.

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Aminisani, N., Nikbakht, HA., Shojaie, L. et al. Gender Differences in Psychological Distress in Patients with Colorectal Cancer and Its Correlates in the Northeast of Iran. J Gastrointest Canc 53, 245–252 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12029-020-00558-x

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