Exploring demoralization in end-of-life cancer patients: Prevalence, latent dimensions, and associations with other psychosocial variables

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Anxiety and Depression in Women Newly Diagnosed with Breast Cancer and Waiting for Surgery: Prevalence and Associations with Socio-Demographic Variables

Background and Objectives: Cancer is a threatening-life disease with a significant psychological burden. The psychological morbidity varies according to the phases of the illness and is influenced by multiple socio-demographic factors, that are useful to consider in order to identify the categories of patients most at risk of developing psychiatric disorders. The present study analyzes, in a sample of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer, the relationships between their levels of anxiety and depression and several socio-demographic characteristics. The study was cross-sectional. Materials and Methods: Four hundred and seventy eight women newly diagnosed with breast cancer completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale during the pre-surgical phase. Results: Findings show that almost 40% of the sample had clinically relevant anxious symptoms and about a quarter of the sample had significant depressive symptoms. Their prevalence was higher in widows. Moreover, depressive symptoms were higher in older women and anxious symptoms were higher in patients with a lower educational level. In the pre-surgical phase, women can suffer from clinically relevant anxiety and depression, especially the widows, older women, and women with a lower educational level. Conclusions: Identifying the most psychologically vulnerable patients, due to specific socio-demographic characteristics, is essential in order to provide adequate psycho-oncological treatments to the categories of patients, who are most at risk of developing psychopathological concerns

911-38 Effect of Single Loading Oral Propafenone or Digoxin in Recent Onset Atrial Fibrillation: Conversion to Sinus Rhythm and Modulation of Ventricular Rate. A Randomized, Placebo Controlled Study

A population of 105 patients (pts) with recent onset (<72 hours) atrial fibrillation (AF) without clinical signs of heart failure were randomly treated with a single loading oral dose of propafenone (PFN) (600mg) or digoxin (DIG) (1mg) or with placebo (PLA). A 24-hour holter monitoring was performed and conversion to sinus rhythm (SR) after 2, 4 and 24 hours was considered as criterion of efficacy. We also evaluated the effect on mean ventricular rate (MVR) in those pts with still lasting AF four hours after drug administration.The 3 groups were comparable as to gender, age, etiology, duration of AF, mean ventricular rate at baseline and left atrial dimension.Conversion to SRPFN (n=36)DIG (n=34)PLA (n=35)p valueafter 2 hours16 (44%)5 (15%)7 (20%)0.011after 4 hours25 (69%)11 (32%)12 (34%)0.002after 24 hours30 (83%)24 (71%)25 (71%)nsMean conversion time within 4 hours was 139±117’ for PFN, 123±66’ for DIG and 116±78’ for PLA (p=ns).Reduction MVRPFN (n=11)DIG (n=23)PLA (n=23)p valuebaseline (bpm)134±20133±29136±28†;‡< 0.001after 2 hours106±22†113±32‡124±29vsbaseline(-21%)**(1-15%)(-9%)***=0.002after 4 hours92±15†104±29‡121±27°°<0.01(-31%)°/*(-22%)°/°°(-11%)*/°°°;**<0.05No serious adverse effects were noted in either group. Phases of regular tachycardia were observed in 3 pts of each group, but only in 2 cases, both receiving placebo, 1: 1 AV conduction ensued.1) Oral loading dose of PFN is safely and promptly efficacious in converting recent onset AF to SR. 2) The efficacy of oral PFN is significantly superior in comparison to oral DIG while oral loading dose of DIG is no better than placebo. 3) PFN and DIG are both effective in reducing MVR in pts with recentonset AF who did not revert to SR or who reverted late after drug administration