Suffering from a chronic myeloproliferative neoplasm (Mpn), such as polycythemia vera and myelofibrosis, means having a compromised quality of life due to the symptoms of the disease – one of which is fatigue, present in 70% of cases – and the psychological implications. Two recent studies have investigated the impact of anxiety and depression in these patients with haematological disorders. A recent international survey published in Cancer Medicine finds that depression, present in more than a quarter of patients with MPN, contributes to worsening the systemic symptoms of the disease manifestation. This is what an article published in ‘Allies for Health’ (www.alleatiperlasalute.it), a portal dedicated to medical-scientific information created by Novartis.
Among the 1,300 respondents – the article reads – almost one in 4 (23%) showed depressive symptoms, based on a score of at least 3 on the Patient Health Questionnaire-2, which indicates patients at high risk of depression, rather than already diagnosed with depression. Specifically, survey results indicated that having major depressive symptoms worsens the systemic symptom load for patients. Regarding chronic fatigue in particular, the researchers observed differences in the moments of manifestation of the symptom. Those who exhibited a depressive problem were more likely to feel fatigued all day (42.7% vs 17.5%), while patients who did not express depressive symptoms were more likely to experience fatigue at night (47% vs 35%). ). In all types of myeloproliferative neoplasms, higher depressive symptoms were associated with higher levels of systemic symptoms in polycythemia vera and myelofibrosis, and higher values of all constitutional symptoms typical of the disease (fatigue, night sweats and itching), except two (numbness and itching), in essential thrombocythemia.
“The presence of constitutional symptoms affects the prognostic score for myelofibrosis and is a key feature in the response to therapy in inhibiting Jak2, indicating the importance of the presence and mitigation of these physiological experiences,” the researchers write. “The association of the constitutional symptoms of myeloproliferative disease with prominent depressive symptoms – they add – suggests that a heavy burden of constitutional symptoms leads to depressive symptoms and addressing the severity of the symptoms of myeloproliferative neoplasms, through drug or non-drug therapies, can improve symptoms. depression “. According to the authors, the risk of depressive symptoms identified among these patients is consistent with reports of such symptoms in other haematological malignancies. This suggests that “Patients diagnosed with Mpn, regardless of treatment type, have a risk of developing depressive symptoms similar to that of people with high-risk hematological cancers undergoing aggressive treatment“.
Similar results were also recorded in another Danish study that aimed to determine the prevalence and severity of anxiety and depression among patients with Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms.
The data was collected through a cross-sectional survey using the MPNhealthSurvey system for people from the National Registry of Patients diagnosed with MPN, which correlates disease with quality of life. Assessment of anxiety and depression was done using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale which associates the two emotional disorders with age, sex, education, body mass index (BMI), smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity, load of comorbidities, Mpn disease duration, financial distress, symptom burden, sexual problems, fatigue, functioning, and overall health / QoL were examined. In the 2,029 who completed the questionnaire, the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and both was 21%, 12%, and 8%, respectively. Many of the subjects who reported anxiety or depression showed mild symptoms. Middle-aged and older participants were less likely to experience anxiety and depression than younger participants. Females were more likely to be anxious than males.
The full article is available on: https://www.alleatiperlasalute.it/alla-scoperta-di/malattie-ematologiche-e-deiseno.
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