Skip to main content

Table 3 Associations between selected sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological factors and mean anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder scores* at first investigation (T1) among Omani children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer (N = 92)

From: Prevalence of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder among Omani children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer: a prospective cross-sectional study

Characteristic

Anxiety score

Depression score

PTSD score

Mean ± SD

Statistics†

p value

Mean ± SD

Statistics†

p value

Mean ± SD

Statistics†

p value

Gender

         

Female

24.9 ± 11.4

0.889

0.376

15.7 ± 9.8

-1.598

0.114

23.4 ± 17.4

-0.242

0.810

Male

22.9 ± 10.0

19.2 ± 11.3

24.4 ± 19.5

Age‡

-

0.288

0.005^

-

0.383

< 0.001^

-

0.436

< 0.001

Age group

         

Children

22.2 ± 10.5

-2.094

0.041^

15.7 ± 10.6

-2.576

0.012^

19.5 ± 17.8

-3.470

0.001^

Adolescents

27.0 ± 10.2

21.7 ± 10.2

33.0 ± 16.8

Diagnosis

         

Leukaemia

22.5 ± 9.6

0.330

0.804

17.9 ± 10.2

0.055

0.983

23.9 ± 16.8

2.054

0.112

Lymphoma

24.1 ± 11.4

16.9 ± 11.4

17.6 ± 16.5

Solid tumour

25.0 ± 11.4

18.0 ± 11.5

28.3 ± 21.3

Brain tumour

25.3 ± 12.0

18.0 ± 10.4

33.8 ± 21.4

Time since diagnosis, months

         

< 1

23.1 ± 10.0

1.250

0.291

17.6 ± 11.1

0.473

0.625

21.6 ± 18.4

2.505

0.087

1–2

27.0 ± 13.5

16.7 ± 9.9

27.5 ± 18.2

2–3

21.1 ± 5.9

21.3 ± 9.8

36.3 ± 15.9

Type of cancer diagnosis

         

Relapse

25.1 ± 12.3

0.410

0.683

20.1 ± 12.0

0.714

0.477

32.1 ± 13.7

1.402

0.164

New

23.6 ± 10.5

17.4 ± 10.6

23.1 ± 18.8

Cancer risk¶

         

Not applicable

19.7 ± 8.2

0.972

0.410

15.0 ± 6.8

2.234

0.090

9.5 ± 3.8

6.143

0.001^

Standard

21.1 ± 10.2

15.6 ± 11.2

16.0 ± 17.4

Intermediate

23.9 ± 11.2

14.8 ± 10.0

20.0 ± 18.8

High

25.3 ± 10.7

20.8 ± 10.9

31.8 ± 16.9

Cancer stage

         

Not applicable

22.1 ± 9.7

0.601

0.663

17.5 ± 10.4

2.326

0.063

23.4 ± 16.8

2.122

0.085

I

26.3 ± 10.9

15.0 ± 11.4

19.0 ± 18.2

II

27.5 ± 13.2

15.3 ± 12.0

16.6 ± 16.2

III

24.7 ± 11.9

13.8 ± 8.6

19.6 ± 18.1

IV

23.5 ± 10.4

23.4 ± 11.2

33.5 ± 20.9

Treatment type

         

Chemotherapy alone

21.6 ± 9.2

1.527

0.201

16.5 ± 11.3

0.939

0.445

20.2 ± 17.9

1.876

0.122

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy

27.3 ± 11.1

17.3 ± 9.3

25.7 ± 19.5

Chemotherapy and surgery

26.9 ± 12.2

22.1 ± 9.2

28.0 ± 19.3

Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery

25.7 ± 13.6

17.9 ± 11.3

34.0 ± 19.7

Chemotherapy and transplant

29.0 ± 12.6

23.6 ± 9.0

34.0 ± 9.4

Aware of diagnosis

         

Yes

28.7 ± 11.2

3.053

0.003^

19.1 ± 10.1

0.825

0.411

32.5 ± 16.1

2.973

0.004^

No

21.7 ± 9.7

17.1 ± 11.0

20.4 ± 18.4

Psychological distress

         

Anxiety‡

 

-

-

 

0.369

< 0.001^

 

0.475

< 0.001^

Depression‡

 

0.369

< 0.001^

 

-

-

 

0.667

< 0.001^

PTSD‡

 

0.475

< 0.001^

 

0.667

< 0.001^

 

-

-

  1. Abbreviations: PTSD: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, SD: Standard Deviation. *The presence of anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms was assessed using validated Arabic versions of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children, and Impact of Event Scale-Revised instruments, respectively. Scores of ≥ 25, ≥15, and ≥ 33, respectively, were considered indicative of an anxiety disorder, depressive symptoms, and a probable diagnosis of PTSD [15,16,17,18,19,20]. †Calculated using either analysis of variance or an independent sample t-test, as appropriate. ‡Using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. ^Considered statistically significant at p ≤ 0.05. ¶Estimated based on the participant’s age at diagnosis, disease stage, tumour histology, MYCN status (amplified versus nonamplified), and tumour cell ploidy status [21]
Back to article page

BMC Cancer

ISSN: 1471-2407

Contact us