OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the prevalence of depressed mood and anhedonia in a sample of men with prostate cancer (PCa) and to determine which of these key symptoms contributed most to the overall depressive status of that sample.
METHOD: From Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) responses collected on 526 PCa patients, direct comparisons were made between the prevalence of the first two DSM-IV-TR symptoms of Major Depressive Episode. These symptoms were then tested for their predictive power on depression total score and Zung's criteria for 'clinically significant' depression.
RESULTS: Mean scores for anhedonia were significantly higher than for depressed mood, and nearly 25 times as many patients had a high score for anhedonia as for depressed mood. The same pattern of results was apparent for those patients who had clinically significant levels of depression. Anhedonia was a more powerful predictor of total SDS depression score for the entire sample as well as for those patients with more severe depression.
CONCLUSION: Because the biological basis for anhedonia is different to that for depressed mood, treatment options also differ for patients who show a preponderance of anhedonia in their depressive symptomatology. Suggestions are made for treatment choices for these PCa patients.
Written by:
Sharpley CF, Bitsika V, Christie DH. Are you the author?
Brain-Behaviour Research Group, University of New England, New South Wales, 4225, Australia.
Reference: Psychooncology. 2012 Sep 27. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1002/pon.3203
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23019092
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