Depression and functional impairment independently contribute to decreased quality of life in cancer patients prior to chemotherapy

An inverse association either between depression or impaired functional status and quality of life (QoL) has been reported for cancer patients, but the independent effect of depression or depressive symptoms and of functional impairment on QoL is unclear.We investigated the prevalence of depression or depressive symptoms with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the functional impairment with the ECOG-Performance-Status (ECOG-PS) and the QoL with the EORTC-QLQ-C30 questionnaire in a sample of 175 hospitalised cancer patients prior to the start of chemotherapy.Sixteen of 175 patients (9.1%) screened positive for major depression, 29 (16.6%) had mild to moderate depressive symptoms. In 11 of …