Supervisors info:
Κυριακή Μυστακίδου, Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Χρυσάνθη Μπατιστάκη, Επίκουρος Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Στυλιανός Κατσαραγάκης, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Νοσηλευτικής, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Introduction: Sexuality and mood are major issues for patients with cervical cancer (CC) and important aspects of their quality of life.
Purpose: To investigate the correlation between sexuality and depression of CC patients.
Methods: Bibliographical search was carried out in the databases: CINAHL, Pubmed, Cochrane Library, with a combination of the following terms: sexuality, sexual function, sexual dysfunction, sexual problems, mood, depression, emotional distress, cervical cancer, in English for the years 2006-2017. The studies were evaluated methodically.
Results: Fourteen studies were included. They present great heterogeneity in the stage of the disease, the selected treatments and their sample. From the sum of the studies, only seven are evaluated as good methodologically. Sexual dysfunction and depression of CC patients persist for many years after treatments. The younger women, those who underwent radiotherapy and those who had chronic fatigue, as an aftereffect of treatments, had increased depression. Depression rates before surgery are high but have a significant downward trend in the first year of surgery. Women that underwent surgery and adjuvant therapy experienced the highest rates of depressive symptoms. There is a positive relationship between sexuality and depression in patients with CC.
Conclusions: Sexuality and depression οf women with CC are affected by their therapies to a significant extent. There is a positive correlation between the two variables. The existing methodologically good studies are scarce and for this reason the results cannot be generalized in all CC patients.
