Quality of Life, Depression, and Anxiety in Patients with Uveal Melanoma: A Review

The aim is to summarize current knowledge on both QoL and depressive/anxious symptoms in patients with UM, including studies on the effect on QoL and psychological status of genetic testing related to the risk of metastatic disease. A review from the last 25 years by using the databases “PsycInfo,” “Medline,” and “Science Direct” was performed. As a total result, eighteen papers were retrieved. Eight studies (44.4%) used a prospective design methodology: two were retrospective observations (11.1%), three were cross-sectional observational studies (16.6%), and three (16.6%) were naturalistic follow-up studies. One trial was conducted with a case-control design (5.5%), and one was a methodological paper (5.5%). The number of subjects included in the studies ranged widely, between 7 and 842 (mean: 152.1 ± 201.3), for a total of 2587 patients, 1306 males (50.5%) and 1281 females (49.5%). The mean age of subject enrolled was 61.3 ± 4.1 years. Twenty-six different scales, questionnaires, or interviews were utilized. No significant differences in QoL between radiotherapy and enucleation emerged. Genetic testing did not significantly affect QoL or psychological status.