Abstract:

Objective  To investigate the status quo of stigma and alexithymia in patients with gynecological tumors in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University and the effectiveness of predicting depression.

Methods  In total, 242 patients with gynecological tumor were selected as the research subjects. The Social Impact Scale(SIS) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS-20) were used to investigate stigma and alexithymia, and Spearman was used to analyze the correlation between stigma, alexithymia and depression. Logistic regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors of depression in gynecological cancer patients, and ROC was used to predict the predictive value of stigma and alexithymia for depression in gynecological cancer patients.

Results  The SIS score of gynecological tumor patients was higher than the domestic norm, and the TAS-20 score was higher than that of the normal control group(P＜0.05). SIS score and TAS-20 score of gynecological tumor patients were positively correlated with depression(r=0.605, P＜0.001; r=0.621, P＜0.001). Age ≥ 60 years, educational level of primary school and below, tumor diameter≥ 4 cm, self-payment, SIS score≥ 48, TAS-20 score ≥ 52, introversion, stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ and low differentiation were independent risk factors for depression in patients with gynecological tumors(P＜0.05). The AUC of SIS score in predicting depression was 0.849 (95%CI: 0.798-0.892). When the cut-off value was 50, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 74.07% and 81.13% respectively. The AUC of TAS-20 score in predicting depression was 0.754 (95%CI: 0.695-0.807). When the cut-off value was 53, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 57.14% and 84.91% respectively.

Conclusion  Stigma and alexithymia are common in patients with gynecological tumors. Patients with gynecological tumors affected by these factors are prone to depression. In clinical practice, for patients with stigma and alexithymia, it is necessary to strengthen the prevention and perform the corresponding psychological adjustment to further reduce the risk of depression.

Key words: genital neoplasms, female, stigma, depression