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Weight loss after head and neck cancer: A dynamic relationship with depressive symptoms
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Weight loss after head and neck cancer: A dynamic relationship with depressive symptoms

Julia R. Van Liew, Rebecca L. Brock, Alan J. Christensen, Lucy Hynds Karnell, Nitin A. Pagedar and Gerry F. Funk
Head & neck, Vol.39(2), pp.370-379
02/01/2017
DOI: 10.1002/hed.24601
PMCID: PMC5771807
PMID: 27704695
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/5771807View
Open Access

Abstract

Background. Weight loss and depressive symptoms are critical head and neck cancer outcomes, yet their relation over the illness course is unclear. Methods. Associations between self-reported depressive symptoms and objective weight loss across the year after head and neck cancer diagnosis were examined using growth curve modeling techniques (n = 564). Results. A reciprocal covariation pattern emerged-changes in depressive symptoms over time were associated with same-month changes in weight loss (t [1148] = 2.05; p = .041), and changes in weight loss were associated with same-month changes in depressive symptoms (t [556] = 2.43; p = .015). To the extent that depressive symptoms increased, patients lost incrementally more weight than was lost due to the passage of time and vice versa. Results also suggested that pain and eating-related quality of life might explain the reciprocal association between depressive symptoms and weight loss. Conclusion. In head and neck cancer, a transactional interplay between depressive symptoms and weight loss unfolds over time. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Surgery Life Sciences & Biomedicine Otorhinolaryngology Science & Technology

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