Cushies Never Return to
Normal. Patients know this. Sometimes their immediate care takers and
family members know this. When will doctors and extended family and friends
understand? When will society understand we will never be the same?! When can Cushies
shed the burden of guilt over a situation that is beyond our control and
certainly not our fault?
In this study, patients
with Cushing's Disease were found to have lower quality of life, lower body
image perception and higher levels of depression compared to healthy controls,
particularly if the disease is persistent despite surgery. [blogger emphasis]
Evaluation of depression,
quality of life and body image in patients with Cushing's disease.
Author(s)
Institution
Department of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry,
Istanbul Medical School, Istanbul University, 34080, Çapa, Istanbul, Turkey, nilalcalar@yahoo.com.
Source
Pituitary 2012 Aug 28.
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate patients with Cushing's
disease (CD) who had undergone transsphenoidal surgery in terms of depression,
quality of life (QoL), and perception of body image in comparison to healthy
controls. Forty patients with CD and 40 healthy controls matched for
demographic characteristics were included in the study. The subjects were
evaluated with the Beck depression inventory (BDI), the health survey-short
form (SF-36) and the multidimensional body-self relations questionnaire (MBSRQ).
Subgroups of the patients with CD were formed on the basis of remission status
and BDI scores. In this study, QoL in the general health category and body
image were lower in the patients with CD than in the healthy subjects. However,
no differences in depression scores were found between the two groups. When the
CD group was evaluated according to remission rate, the mean BDI score was
significantly higher in the CD patients without remission than in both the CD
patients with remission and the healthy subjects (p = 0.04). However,
the physical functioning, bodily pain and general health scores of the CD
patients without remission on the SF-36 questionnaire were lower than in the CD
patients in remission and the healthy subjects (p = 0.002,
p = 0.04, p = 0.002, respectively). Fitness evaluation,
health evaluation and body areas satisfaction scores of the MBSRQ were
significantly different in the three groups (p = 0.003,
p = 0.009 and p = 0.001, respectively). In this study,
patients with CD were found to have lower QoL, lower body image perception and
higher levels of depression compared to healthy controls, particularly if the
disease is persistent despite surgery.
