QOLP-09. ASSOCIATION BETWEEN BODY IMAGE INVESTMENT AND ALTERATION IN PATIENTS WITH PRIMARY BRAIN TUMORS

Abstract BACKGROUND Body image is an important psychosocial issue in cancer patients, including those with primary brain tumors (PBT). Investment in physical appearance is associated with depression and quality-of-life (QoL) outcomes in non-CNS malignancies. Therefore, examination of body image investment is warranted to better understand factors involved in body image disturbance in the PBT population. METHODS A cross-sectional survey of 100 PBT patients was conducted as part of an IRB approved prospective protocol. Participants completed the 10-item Body Image Scale (BIS), and the 20-item Appearance Schemas Inventory-Revised (ASI-R) which includes self-evaluative and motivational salience subscales. Potential BIS and ASI-R scores ranged from 0–30 and 1–5 respectively. Cronbach’s alpha assessed reliability. Pearson’s correlation coefficients assessed relationships between questionnaires. Significance level was p< 0.05. RESULTS Patients were mostly male (56%) with a median age of 48 (range 23–74). Glioblastoma was the most common diagnosis (32%). Median time from initial diagnosis was 5 years (range 0–22), and 64% of patients had a KPS≥ 90. Median BIS score was 5 (range 0–27), ASI-R composite score was 2.9 (range 1.5–4.7), self-evaluative subscale score was 2.6 (range 1.2–4.5), and motivational subscale score was 3.4 (range 1.9–5.0). BIS was significantly correlated with ASI-R composite (r=0.53, 95%CI: 0.37 to 0.65), ASI-R self-evaluative (r=0.65, 95%CI: .52 to .75), but not ASI-R motivational (r=0.14, 95%CI: -0.06 to 0.33, p=0.17) scores. Increased severity of altered body image was correlated to increased negativity of the patient’s belief about their appearance. Cronbach’s alpha for the ASI-R composite, self-evaluative and motivational subscales were 0.87, 0.85, and 0.81 respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Body image and investment are important QoL issues for PBT patients. The ASI-R demonstrated good internal consistency in this population. While there was significant correlation between BIS and ASI-R composite and self-evaluative scores, this was not true with the motivational score.