Influence of anxiety and depression status of family members on the general psychological status of perioperative patients with lung cancer

Background and objective Facing the double pressures caused by cancer and surgery, many patients will appear series psychological problems like nervous, fear, pessimism, anxiety and so on. The aim of this study is to explone the anxiety, depression status of family members, the general psychological status of perioperative patients with lung cancer and the influence of the former on the latter. Methods Total 97 patients and 97 patient family members from the thoracic department of the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University were enrolled as the study subjects. The general information, the anxiety and depression status of the family members, and the general psychological status of perioperative patients with lung cancer were investigated using self-made general information questionnaire, self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), self-rating depression scale (SDS) and symptom check-list 90 (SCL-90). Results The scores of seven factors, including total scores (153.28±41.98), somatization (1.78±0.42), compulsion (1.96±0.52), depression (1.77±0.67), anxiety (1.82±0.56), hostility (1.68±0.87), panic (1.44±0.75) and psychosis (1.56±0.51) in SCL-90 were remarkerbly higher than those in domestic norm (P < 0.05). The standard score in SAS of the family members was positively correlated with the compulsion, anxiety and bigoted factors of SCL-90 in the patients (P < 0.05). The depression severity of the family members was negatively correlated with the compulsion and psychosis factors of SCL-90 in the patients (P < 0.05). Conclusion Family members have different degrees of anxiety and depression, which have certain effects on the general psychological status of perioperative patients with lung cancer. DOI: 10.3779/j.issn.1009-3419.2011.12.02