Screening for Psychological Distress in Japanese Cancer Patients

Background: Psychological distress is frequently observed, however, it is underestimated in cancer patients. The aim of this study is to develop a simple battery for screening for psychological distress, adjustment disorder and major depressive disorder in Japanese cancer patients.

Methods: One hundred and twenty-eight cancer patients were interviewed by psychiatrists and tested using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), a 14-item self-assessment questionnaire. Psychiatric diagnoses were performed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition-revised.

Results: Cronbach alpha values of the Japanese version of the scale were 0.77 for the subscale for anxiety and 0.79 for depression. By a receiver operating characteristic analysis, we determined that an optimal cut-off point for screening for adjustment disorder and major depressive disorder was 10/11, which gave high enough sensitivity and specificity (91.5 and 65.4%, respectively). To screen for major depressive disorder alone, 19/20 was an optimal cut-off point with 82.4% sensitivity and 96.3% specificity. The subscales of HADS (anxiety and depression) also had high screening performance.

Conclusions: The Japanese version of HADS is a sensitive and specific tool for screening for psychological distress in Japanese cancer patients. This scale can be used for an early detection of patients' psychological distress which may be followed by psychiatric interventions.