Clinical Scorecard: Psychological Distress in Patients with Low-Grade Gliomas - A Single-Center Investigation (Erratum)

At a Glance

Key Highlights

• Increased psychological distress observed in 22.1% of LGG patients screened by HADS.
• Significant risk factors for distress include pre-existing psychiatric disorders and lack of psychotropic medication intake.
• Depression and anxiety increased in 17.4% of patients, independent of time since diagnosis or care setting.

Guideline-Based Recommendations

Diagnosis

• Use Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to screen for psychological distress in LGG patients.
• Consider combined HADS-T scores (≥11 on HADS-D and/or HADS-A) to identify increased distress.

Management

• Address pre-existing psychiatric disorders and evaluate psychotropic medication history in LGG patients.
• Monitor patients with children and female patients closely for anxiety symptoms.

Monitoring & Follow-up

• Screen patients at various time points post-diagnosis (up to 6 months, 6 months to 3 years, and beyond 3 years).
• Use Distress Thermometer (DT) alongside HADS for sensitivity and specificity assessment.

Risks

• Higher distress risk in patients with pre-existing psychiatric disorders.
• Increased distress associated with lack of psychotropic medication intake.

Patient & Prescribing Data

LGG patients with and without prior psychiatric history

Patients lacking history of antidepressant or psychotropic drug intake showed significantly higher distress scores.

Clinical Best Practices

• Incorporate routine psychooncological distress screening using validated tools like HADS in LGG patient care.
• Identify and manage psychiatric comorbidities early to mitigate distress.
• Consider demographic factors such as gender and parental status when assessing anxiety risk.

References

• Original Article DOI