A prospective study of psychosocial morbidity in adult bone marrow transplant recipients.

Forty recipients of bone marrow transplantation were recruited prospectively and assessed pretransplant, at 1 month postdischarge, and at 6 months postdischarge between 1989 and 1990. Assessments included a psychiatric interview, a variety of standardized questionnaires (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Mental Attitude to Cancer Scale, Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale), and a standardized diagnostic interview. The influence of factors such as depression and anxiety upon length of stay, survival, psychosocial adjustment, and negative prognostic attitudes were examined. In contrast to other studies, little influence was found for psychiatric illness on physical outcome variables, but they did affect psychosocial outcome. The implications of these findings are discussed.