Profiles of depressive symptoms and the association with anxiety and quality of life in breast cancer survivors: a latent profile analysis

Purpose The aim of this study was to examine profiles of depressive symptoms and the association with anxiety and quality of life (QOL) in breast cancer survivors. Methods A cross-sectional multicenter survey involving 5 hospitals in Korea was implemented between February 2015 and January 2017. A self-report survey included the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Short Form 36, and State and Trait Anxiety Scale. Data from 347 patients were analyzed. Results Latent profile analysis identified five profiles of depressive symptoms: (1) “no depression” (63.98%); (2) “mild depression with sleep problems” (16.43%); (3) “mild depression” (8.65%); (4) “moderate depression with anhedonia” (7.78%); and (5) “moderately severe depression” (3.17%). Results from Fisher’s exact test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to examine whether sociodemographic and clinical characteristics distinguish the classes indicated that marital status, income and education as well as C-reactive protein distinguished a few classes. Multivariate analysis of covariance and analysis of covariance results indicated that both types of anxiety as well as several dimensions of QOL differed between the identified classes. Conclusions The current results suggest that although identified classes were characterized overall by severity of depression, a few classes also reflected pronounced individual symptom patterns, warranting tailored interventions for these symptom patterns, along with overall severity of depression.