Association of resilience with health-related quality of life and depression in multiple myeloma and its precursors: results of a German cross-sectional study

ObjectivesTo investigate the relation between resilience, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and depression in multiple myeloma (MM) and its premalignant stages. MM is one of the most frequent haematological disorders. It is regularly preceded by asymptomatic stages of the disease namely monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smouldering multiple myeloma (SMM). Survivors have to cope with mental and physical impairment in terms of HRQOL and depression. The concept of resilience refers to a person’s ability to adapt to adversity.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingMM outpatient department at a University Hospital in Germany (tertiary care).Participants292 consecutive patients from our MM outpatient department.Outcome measuresHRQOL, depression and psychological resilience were assessed with validated questionnaires.ResultsRegression analyses were performed to determine associations between resilience, HRQOL and depression. 98 patients (33.6%) had a new diagnosis of active MM, 106 patients (36.3%) were already treated for MM and 88 patients had the diagnosis of a precursor (MGUS or SMM; 30.1%) of MM. Multivariate linear regression analyses revealed a strong positive impact of resilience on physical (b 7.20; 95% CI 4.43 to 9.98; p