Anxiety and depressive symptoms and missing breast cancer
and cervical screening: results from Brazos valley community
health survey
Authors: Xiaoying Zhanga, Rahma Mkuub, Elfreda Sammanc, Shelby Cummings, Ledric Shermana, Lisa T. Wigfalla, Larrell Wilkinsond and James N. Burdinec
Publication: Psychology, Health & Medicine, DOI: 10.1080/13548506.2019.1668031 (September 2019)
Abstract:
Breast and cervical cancer screening are associated with dramatically reduced cancer mortality. Mental illnesses have been demonstrated to influence preventative behaviours. This study aims to explore whether anxiety or depressive symptoms is associated with breast and cervical cancer screening. We analyzed data (n = 3104) from the 2013 Brazos Valley Community Health
Assessment. The GAD-7 Scale was used to assess the anxiety level, and PHQ-2 was used to assess the depressive symptoms. Stata 15.0 statistical software was used to perform descriptive and logistic regression analysis. Overall, 80.61% of women in each sample met breast cancer or cervical cancer screening guidelines, respectfully. Anxiety was associated with missing breast and cervical cancer screening, but the association was only significant for cervical cancer (OR = 1.430, CI = 1.009, 2.026), not for breast cancer (OR = 1.406, CI = .952, 2.078). Depressive symptom was significantly associated with missing breast (OR = 1.502, CI = 1.051, 2.149) and cervical (OR = 1.689, CI = 1.208, 2.362) cancer screening
after controlling for demographics. Women with depressive symptoms and anxiety had higher odds of missing breast and cervical cancer screening. Health promotion programs should consider
targeting individuals with anxiety and depression to improve cancer-screening rates.