Abstract
Purpose :
Treatments of choroidal melanoma might have a different impact on quality of life and on emotional state of the patients. A number of studies already addressed this issue, starting from the COMS-QoLs reports. However, as far as we know, little is known about gender differences, in terms of quality of life and occurrence of anxiety or depression signs and symptoms.
Aim of this study was to explore gender differences amongst patients treated for choroidal melanoma (CM), with an evaluation of their Quality of Life (QoL) after treatment.
Methods :
Forthy-one patients (14 males and 27 females) were treated with brachytherapy (n=26, BRT), stereotactic radiation therapy (n=9, SRS) and enucleation (n=6) and evaluated with the Quality of Life Scale (EORT-C30). Thirthy-eight patients (38/41; 92.6%) were also assessed with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HASD). Gender differences were investigated with the T-Student test for independent samples.
Results :
Female patients scored significantly lower than male patients on ‘Physical’ (82.7±21.5 vs 92.3±9.3, respectively; p<.05), ‘Emotional’ (74.0±22.3 vs 83.9±8.9, respectively; p=.005), and ‘Social’ (95.0±10.1 vs 96.4±9.6, respectively; p<.04) scales. In the single items ‘Dyspnoea’ (4.7±12.1 vs 19.7±23.1; p<.001), ‘Appetite Loss’ (3.7±10.6 vs 0.0; p<.005), ‘Constipation’ (8.6±25.4 vs 0.0; p<.007) female patients scored significantly higher than males. Conversely, male patients scored higher than females on the ‘Economic Impact’ single item 7.1±19.2 vs1.2±6.4; p<.004).
Conclusions :
Treatment of choroidal melanoma seems to have a more relevant impact on QoL in female than in male patients. Psychological interventions should take into account these gender differences. As far as we know, this is the first study addressing the hypothesis that gender differences might play a role in facing the difficulties derived from the diagnosis and treatment of CM, even if it is well-known that CM produces severe modification of body image, bodily sensations and interpersonal relationships that might be of different importance between genders.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.