Predicting major depression in brain tumor patients.

Very few studies have been performed utilizing DSM criteria to diagnose major depressive disorder (MDD) in adult brain tumor patients. This study aimed to diagnose MDD in this population using DSM-IV criteria.Eighty-nine adult brain tumor patients were examined in an ambulatory neuro-oncology clinic setting using a structured psychiatric interview which followed current DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for MDD. This sample was interviewed and evaluated on a one-time basis. The patients were referred for evaluation on a consecutive basis. Multiple regression was used to model critical independent variables to predict MDD.Twenty-eight percent of the sample (N=89) were found to have major depressive disorder using DSM-IV criteria. Key predictors of MDD included frontal region of tumor location (p=0.001), combined sadness and lack of motivation symptoms (p=0.0001), and family psychiatric history (p=0.006). The multiple regression models account for 37% of variance in predicting MDD (R(2)=0.37).A substantially higher incidence of MDD was found in this sample of adult brain tumor patients compared with other adult, ambulatory cancer patients previously evaluated with DSM criteria. The incidence of MDD was about triple that found in other published studies using DSM criteria. Copyright 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.