PERBEDAAN SKOR GERIATRIC DEPRESSION SCALE PADA PASIEN USIA LANJUT DENGAN KANKER KEPALA DAN LEHER YANG BELUM DAN SEDANG MENJALANI RADIOTERAPI

Abstract

Background. There has been a constant rise in the elderly population number throughout the world, more so in the developing countries. This growth is paralleled with rapid increase in disease prevalence, head and neck cancer being one of them. The diagnosis and subsequent treatment such as radiotherapy can have a potentially devastating impact on psychosocial functioning, including depression. Aims. This study aims to compare the total Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) mean score between two groups of sample: those who had not yet undergone radiotherapy and those who had a minimum of 10 times radiotherapy. Methods. Cross-sectional analysis was conducted on 28 elderly head and neck cancer patients from the Radiotherapy Department, Kariadi Hospital, Semarang from April to August 2015. Sosiodemographic characteristics and clinical data including diagnosis, cancer stage, and radiotherapy frequency were obtained from the medical records, followed by a questionnaire-based interview afterwards. Statistical analysis using Independent T-test was performed. Results. The mean of total GDS score was significantly higher among patients within the course of the therapy compared to the other group with scores of 2,64(±1,82) and 6,64(±3,41) respectively (p=0,001). Cancer stage contributed an extremely weak positive correlation to the GDS score (r=0,141) Conclusion. Patients within the course of radiotherapy were more depressed compared to the comparative group. Key word: geriatric population, head and neck cancer, depression, geriatric depression scale (GDS), radiotherapy