Patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasms show different states of health-related quality of life and different coping styles depending on the choice of therapy: findings from the CIN study

Stephanie Klügel; Caroline Lücke; Aylin Mehren; Eduard Malik; Alexandra Philipsen; Meike Schild-Suhren; Helge Ho Müller

doi:10.2147/IJWH.S208257

Patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasms show different states of health-related quality of life and different coping styles depending on the choice of therapy: findings from the CIN study

Int J Womens Health. 2019 Sep 12:11:511-517. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S208257. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Stephanie Klügel¹, Caroline Lücke², Aylin Mehren^{1

3}, Eduard Malik⁴, Alexandra Philipsen², Meike Schild-Suhren^#⁴, Helge Ho Müller^#^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
² Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
³ Biological Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
⁴ Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Carl Von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the effects of type of therapy (conservative therapy vs conization) on the psychosocial well-being of patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade II (CIN II) in a prospective cross-sectional study designed to simplify future choice of therapy.

Patients and methods: In a cross-sectional study comparing 24 CIN II patients who were treated via conservative therapy with 17 CIN II patients who were treated via conization (not randomized), we examined the association between therapy type and psychosocial well-being after the treatment. Scores on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) (prevalence of depression/anxiety), SF-12 (health-related quality of life (HRQoL)) and Brief COPE (coping mechanisms) questionnaires were compared between the two subgroups via nonparametric Mann-Whitney U-tests.

Results: The prevalence of depression/anxiety and mental HRQoL did not differ between patients undergoing conservative therapy and those undergoing conization but differed significantly from those of the healthy population. Regarding physical HRQoL and coping strategies, the conservative therapy subgroup achieved higher scores and better performance.

Conclusion: Patients with CIN II are at risk of developing depressive or anxiety symptoms. The choice of therapy seems to have an influence on physical HRQoL and coping strategies but not on depression/anxiety and mental HRQoL.

Keywords: cervical cancer; coping styles; health-related quality of life.