Purpose: To evaluate the impact of psychiatric co-morbidities on the quality of life-36 (QoL36) and tolerance to mental pain scale (TMPS) questionnaire of cancer patients administered in the Laboratory of Nuclear Medicine prior to a bone scan to rule out metastatic disease.
Methods: A group of 40 consecutive cancer patients (24 prostate, 12 breast and 4 with other cancers) were subjected to bone scan (BS) to rule out metastatic disease. Each patient received QoL36 and TMPS questionnaire prior to BS.
Results: There were low QoL and TMPS scores in all patient groups. The average QoL36 questionnaire score was 43,71 (23-70) (normal values considered >90). The average TMPS scores for prostate cancer patients was 55.42 (21-96), for breast cancer patients 63.42 (44-83) and for the other cancer patients 58.25 (48-68). Female patients with breast cancer had statistically higher tolerance to mental pain compared to patients with prostate cancer. Both tests were independently important for evaluation of the psychological status of the patients. There was no significant correlation of either QoL or TMPS with age, sex or disease duration.
Conclusions: Cancer patients exhibited low QoL and TMPS, independent of sex, age, cancer type and disease duration. Multi-modality psychological support may be needed for these patients.