Major depressive symptoms in breast cancer patients with ovarian function suppression: a cross-sectional study comparing ovarian ablation and gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists

BACKGROUND: Ovarian function suppression (OFS) is indicated in premenopausal women with early or metastasis breast cancer, which may be achieved with similar effect by gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRHa) or ovarian ablation (OA). We examined whether there were differences in major depressive symptoms outcomes and its associated factors between gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRHa) and ovarian ablation (OA) in premenopausal breast cancer patients. METHODS: Premenopausal breast cancer patients from seven hospitals who received OFS participated in the study between June 2019 and June 2020. The correlated variable was the type of ovarian suppression, categorized as either OA (n = 174) or GnRHa (n = 389). Major depressive symptoms was evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and the Female Sexual Function Index questionnaire was used to assess sexual function. RESULTS: A total of 563 patients completed the surveys. The mean PHQ-9 sum score was slightly lower in the GnRHa cohort than in the OA cohort (11.4 ± 5.7 vs. 12.8 ± 5.8, P = 0.079). There were significantly fewer patients with major depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 ≥ 15) in the GnRHa cohort (31.1% vs. 40.2%, Exp (B)=1.805, P=0.004). Further, breast-conserving surgery and sexual dysfunction were negatively correlated with major depressive symptoms [mastectomy vs. breast-conserving: Exp (B) = 0.461, P <0.001;[sexual dysfunction vs. normal: Exp (B) = 0.512, P = 0.001]. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to demonstrate that GnRHa results in more favorable depressive symptoms outcomes than OA. Moreover, most patients preferred alternatives to their OFS treatment. These findings can contribute to improving and alleviating the adverse effects of OFS. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12888-021-03611-6.