Psychological resources tied to mental health, QoL in patients with bladder cancer

Baseline psychological resources (PR) are associated with improved mental health and quality-of-life (QoL) outcomes over time in patients with bladder cancer, suggest the results of a recent study. 

Sixty-seven patients with bladder cancer (median age 71 years, 83.6 percent male) were enrolled in this study between September 2020 and July 2021. Of the participants, 77.6 percent had muscle-invasive bladder cancer.  

Baseline PR, which included resilience, psychological capital, self-compassion, and thriving, showed an inverse association with the Geriatric Depression Scale (ρ, –0.50 to 0.65; p<0.0001). Notably, higher baseline PR positively correlated with improved global symptoms and emotional function, as well as reduced anxiety and depression over time (B, –0.17 to –2.5; p<0.05). 

In this study, patients completed validated assessments of frailty domains and PR at intake, as well as validated QoL surveys at 2 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after treatment selection. 

The investigators created correlation matrices to examine associations between baseline PR and frailty measures (reported with Spearmen correlation coefficient). They also used linear regression to assess the correlations between PR and QoL outcomes. 

“Ongoing work is exploring the relationship between resilience, frailty domains, and their role in functional recovery after treatment,” the investigators said. “Future work is needed to understand associations between PR and treatment tolerance, recovery trajectories, and oncologic outcomes.”  

Resilience refers to the capacity to maintain or restore baseline function after a stressor.