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Gender differences in cancer-related distress in Japan: a retrospective observation study

BACKGROUND: Cancer care is currently the most important medical issue in Japan. Total pain of cancer patients consists of a combination of four factors: physical, psychological, social distress, and spiritual pain. Previous studies showed female cancer patients ask for more psychological support and...

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Autores principales: Koyama, Atsuko, Matsuoka, Hiromichi, Ohtake, Yoichi, Makimura, Chihiro, Sakai, Kiyohiro, Sakamoto, Ryo, Murata, Masahiko
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4828775/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27073410
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13030-016-0062-8
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author Koyama, Atsuko
Matsuoka, Hiromichi
Ohtake, Yoichi
Makimura, Chihiro
Sakai, Kiyohiro
Sakamoto, Ryo
Murata, Masahiko
author_facet Koyama, Atsuko
Matsuoka, Hiromichi
Ohtake, Yoichi
Makimura, Chihiro
Sakai, Kiyohiro
Sakamoto, Ryo
Murata, Masahiko
author_sort Koyama, Atsuko
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Cancer care is currently the most important medical issue in Japan. Total pain of cancer patients consists of a combination of four factors: physical, psychological, social distress, and spiritual pain. Previous studies showed female cancer patients ask for more psychological support and seem to suffer different types of distress compared with male patients, for example, appearance-related symptoms. However, other factors of cancer distress related to gender have not been defined comprehensively. The aim of this study is to clarify the gender differences in cancer distress types in order to elucidate the measures that should be taken in Japan to improve the quality of whole cancer care based on gender-based medicine. METHODS: The data of new patients who had visited the psycho-oncology outpatient service of Kinki University Hospital during the period of May 2013 to October 2015 were collected. Demographic factors and all assessed items were extracted from the patients’ medical charts retrospectively. Based on an inquiry of cancer patients in 2010, each item representing the four factors of “total pain” of cancer patients was chosen, i.e., physical distress (pain, changes in appearance), psychological distress (anxiety, depression), social distress (family problems, job-related problems), and spiritual pain; together with sexuality issues, and answers were analyzed. Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) was used for the assessment of psychological distress. Chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test were performed for gender differences in the cancer distress types. Pearson’s analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis were performed for the association of gender with each item. RESULTS: The data of 101 cancer patients were analyzed and there were more female patients than male patients (female: male ratio = 71:30). Female cancer patients were more likely to suffer from psycho-social issues such as changes in appearance, family problems and sexuality issues than male patients, and male patients were more likely to have spiritual pain. CONCLUSIONS: There were gender differences in the distress types of cancer patients. In order to improve the quality of whole cancer care, more intensive intervention by medical professionals and social support is needed from the viewpoint of gender-based medicine and psycho-oncology.
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spelling pubmed-48287752016-04-13 Gender differences in cancer-related distress in Japan: a retrospective observation study Koyama, Atsuko Matsuoka, Hiromichi Ohtake, Yoichi Makimura, Chihiro Sakai, Kiyohiro Sakamoto, Ryo Murata, Masahiko Biopsychosoc Med Research BACKGROUND: Cancer care is currently the most important medical issue in Japan. Total pain of cancer patients consists of a combination of four factors: physical, psychological, social distress, and spiritual pain. Previous studies showed female cancer patients ask for more psychological support and seem to suffer different types of distress compared with male patients, for example, appearance-related symptoms. However, other factors of cancer distress related to gender have not been defined comprehensively. The aim of this study is to clarify the gender differences in cancer distress types in order to elucidate the measures that should be taken in Japan to improve the quality of whole cancer care based on gender-based medicine. METHODS: The data of new patients who had visited the psycho-oncology outpatient service of Kinki University Hospital during the period of May 2013 to October 2015 were collected. Demographic factors and all assessed items were extracted from the patients’ medical charts retrospectively. Based on an inquiry of cancer patients in 2010, each item representing the four factors of “total pain” of cancer patients was chosen, i.e., physical distress (pain, changes in appearance), psychological distress (anxiety, depression), social distress (family problems, job-related problems), and spiritual pain; together with sexuality issues, and answers were analyzed. Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) was used for the assessment of psychological distress. Chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test were performed for gender differences in the cancer distress types. Pearson’s analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis were performed for the association of gender with each item. RESULTS: The data of 101 cancer patients were analyzed and there were more female patients than male patients (female: male ratio = 71:30). Female cancer patients were more likely to suffer from psycho-social issues such as changes in appearance, family problems and sexuality issues than male patients, and male patients were more likely to have spiritual pain. CONCLUSIONS: There were gender differences in the distress types of cancer patients. In order to improve the quality of whole cancer care, more intensive intervention by medical professionals and social support is needed from the viewpoint of gender-based medicine and psycho-oncology. BioMed Central 2016-04-12 /pmc/articles/PMC4828775/ /pubmed/27073410 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13030-016-0062-8 Text en © Koyama et al. 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Koyama, Atsuko
Matsuoka, Hiromichi
Ohtake, Yoichi
Makimura, Chihiro
Sakai, Kiyohiro
Sakamoto, Ryo
Murata, Masahiko
Gender differences in cancer-related distress in Japan: a retrospective observation study
title Gender differences in cancer-related distress in Japan: a retrospective observation study
title_full Gender differences in cancer-related distress in Japan: a retrospective observation study
title_fullStr Gender differences in cancer-related distress in Japan: a retrospective observation study
title_full_unstemmed Gender differences in cancer-related distress in Japan: a retrospective observation study
title_short Gender differences in cancer-related distress in Japan: a retrospective observation study
title_sort gender differences in cancer-related distress in japan: a retrospective observation study
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4828775/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27073410
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13030-016-0062-8
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