Impact of interaction between somatic illness and trait neuroticism on depressive symptoms

• Malyszczak, Krzysztof ^[1] ; Wróbel,Tomasz ^[2] ; Chachaj, Angelika ^[1] ; Inglot, Malgorzata ^[1] ; Kiejna, Andrzej ^[1]
  1. [1] Wrocław Medical University

     Wrocław Medical University

     Breslavia, Polonia

     
  2. [2] Department and Clinic of Haematology, Blood Neoplasms, and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Wroclaw Medical University. Poland
• Localización: European journal of psychiatry, ISSN 0213-6163, Vol. 24, Nº 4, 2010, págs. 210-219
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Background and Objectives: An interaction between neuroticism and burden of illness supports depressive symptoms even at subclinical level. We have assessed its effect in groups of patients with different kind of somatic illness. Methods: Depressive symptoms (SCAN 2.1) and a level of neuroticism (EPQ-R) were assessed in inpatients from 3 different hospital wards, namely the general internal, hematological and infectious wards, and in controls from the general population. Results: A total of 184 adult subjects were examined (45 with haematological malignancies, 46 treated for other, non-malignant internal diseases, 48 with HCV infection before treatment and 45 healthy persons as control). Differences in mean neuroticism scores were not statistically significant (ANOVA, F = 1.44, p = 0.23) whereas differences in mean depression scores were statistically significant (ANOVA, F = 6.34, p < 0.001). Results of ANCOVA for separate-slopes model analysis revealed a statistically significant level of interaction between groups and neuroticism in their influence on depression mean scores (F = 22.9, p < 0.001). The residual effect of the group variable was weak (F = 0.54, p = 0.21). Conclusions: The interaction is a significant factor related to depressive symptoms and can be used in estimating the extent of the psychological impact of a burden of illness.