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CC BY 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2024; 45(03): 210-218
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1768048
Original Article

When Do Patients with Breast Cancer Seek Help from Psycho-oncology Services? A 3-Year Retrospective Study from India

Arnab Mukherjee 
1   Department of Palliative Care and Psycho-oncology, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India
,
Bidisha Samanta
1   Department of Palliative Care and Psycho-oncology, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India
,
Varuna Sharma
1   Department of Palliative Care and Psycho-oncology, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India
,
Aagon Krishna Shrestha
2   Department of Breast Onco-surgery, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India
,
Shreshta Chattopadhyay
1   Department of Palliative Care and Psycho-oncology, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India
,
Chitralekha Bhowmick 
1   Department of Palliative Care and Psycho-oncology, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India
,
Joydeep Ghosh
3   Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India
,
Sandip Ganguly
3   Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India
,
Sanjit Kumar Agrawal
2   Department of Breast Onco-surgery, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India
,
Soumitra Shankar Datta 
1   Department of Palliative Care and Psycho-oncology, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India
4   MRC Clinical Trials Unit, Institute of Clinical Trials and Methodology, University College London, London, UK
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Abstract

Introduction Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women. In the last few decades, the outcome of breast cancer has improved significantly in terms of survivorship and quality of life. However, it is crucial that alongside managing the disease, breast cancer services address and manage associated or co-occurring psychiatric illnesses such as acute stress reactions, procedural anxieties, adjustment issues, depression, and fear of recurrence, which leads to an overall better experience of the patient.

Objective There is a paucity of data on the patterns of psychiatric morbidity in patients with breast cancer who access psycho-oncology services in a naturalistic setup outside research studies from India. The current study focused on exploring this alongside reporting the common treatment methods adopted for this group of patients.

Materials and Methods Real-life data from electronic patient records were retrospectively reviewed for all patients with breast cancer accessing integrated psycho-oncology services in a tertiary care hospital in India over three 3 years (2018–2020). The various psychiatric morbidities were reported, along with associated cancer demographic data, disease characteristics, and treatment details.

Results Of all the breast cancer patients (n = 338) in the calendar years 2018 to 2020 reviewed by psycho-oncology services, the most common psychiatric diagnosis was depressive illness (n = 100, 29.6%), followed by adjustment disorders (n = 68, 20.1%) and anxiety (n = 66, 19.5%). There was a significant minority with serious enduring mental illnesses such as schizophrenia (n = 11, 3.3%) and bipolar disorders (n = 14, 4.1%). On the other hand, 14.2% (n = 48) of the patients with breast cancer who attended Psycho-oncology outpatient department did not have any psychiatric syndrome. Around 16.3% of patients could be managed without a prescription for any medications and almost half of the patients needed only one psychotropic medicine. Psychological interventions were used for 45.6% of patients.

Conclusion Integrated psycho-oncology services in a cancer hospital catering to patients with breast cancer help in psychiatric assessment, diagnosis, and addressing the mental health needs of patients. The treatment offered needs to be nuanced and individualized and may require a combination of psychotropic medications and psychological techniques.

Keywords

breast cancer - India - medical oncology - psychiatry - psycho-oncology - psycho-oncology service


Publication History

Article published online:
24 April 2023

© 2023. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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