Calidad de vida en pacientes con tumores cerebrales: importancia de las variables psicológicas

Abstract

Clinical symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as cognitive impairment determine the quality of life of patients with brain tumors (Liu, Page, Solheim, Fox, & Chang, 2009). The aim of this paper is to analyze the quality of life and its relationship to psychological variables in individuals diagnosed with glioma six months earlier. The sample consisted of 28 patients (58.6% male) with a mean age of 54.38 and 89.2% of them receiving adjuvant therapy (chemotherapy). All subjects were administered a neuropsychological battery assessing quaility of life, anxiety and depression, attention, memory, language, visuoconstructive skills, visual organization, language, and executive functions. These patients have a worse quality of life in certain dimensions (physical, functional, family) and overall perception of well-being. All areas of quality of life are associated with mood and the presence of clinical manifestations of depression accounts for a lower quality of life. On the other hand, improved cognitive performance in object recognition processes, memory, and planning indicates a higher overall quality of life of these patients.