Pelatonia Fellowship Program AwardThe American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has provided risk factors (past psychiatric history, gender, low SES, additional chronic illness, and martial status) for greater anxiety (GAD-7) and depressive (PHQ-9) symptom severity in the general cancer population. ASCO and additional cancer-specific (cancer-specific stress, social contacts, social support, life events and age) and CLL-specific (absolute lymphocyte counts, treatment naïve, and fatigue) risk factors were measured in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) to determine whether the ASCO risk factors were applicable to this more specific cancer population. Patients diagnosed with CLL (N = 130), entering three clinical trials, were assessed at baseline. Correlations, multiple linear regressions and logistic regressions tested the association between PHQ-9/GAD-7 scores and the risk factors. At baseline, 16.9% (n = 22) and 10.8% (n = 14) of patients were experiencing moderate-severe symptoms of depression and anxiety, respectively. The results of the regression indicated gender (β = -0.15, p = 0.056), social support (β = -0.17, p = 0.043), negative life events (β = 0.17, p = 0.044) and fatigue (β = 0.58, p < 0.001) explained 57% of the variance in depression scores (F (4, 78) = 25.70, p < 0.001). Additionally, cancer-specific stress (β = 0.56, p < 0.001) and social support (β = -0.25, p = 0.006) predicted 40% of the variance in anxiety scores (F (2, 111) = 36.14, p < .001). Non-ASCO risk factors are important in order to predict depressive and anxiety symptoms in patients with CLL.Undergraduate Research Office Psychology Summer Research FellowshipAlkire Research ScholarshipArts & Sciences Research ScholarshipNo embargoAcademic Major: Psycholog
