Validation of the Distress Thermometer in a Mexican population with brain tumors: A Diagnostic Accuracy Study

Authors

Dan Morgenstern-Kaplan, 1. Radiosurgery Unit, Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía, Mexico City, MexicoFollow
Sergio Moreno-Jiménez, The American-British Cowdray Medical Center IAPFollow
Fernanda Páez-Plascencia, 3. Neuropsychology Unit, Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía, Mexico City, MexicoFollow
Angel Ruiz-Chow, 6. Neuropsychiatry Department, Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía, Mexico City, MexicoFollow
Fabiola Flores-Vázquez, 4. Cancer Center, American British Cowdray Medical Center, Mexico City, MexicoFollow

Corresponding Author

Sergio Moreno-Jiménez

Insurgentes Sur 3877 Col. La Fama, Tlalpan, C.P. 14269, Mexico City, Mexico. Email: radioneurocirugia@gmail.com, Tel. +525554093186

Document Type

Original Research - Oncology

Abstract

Objective: Mental health in cancer patients must be addressed. This study's main objective was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the DT in a population of patients with brain tumors and determine the optimal cut-off point for the DT. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery in Mexico City, in a cohort of 110 patients. Results: Of the 108 participants with brain tumors that were included in the analysis (2 patients excluded by incomplete DT), 40 had gliomas, 31 had pituitary adenomas, 21 had meningiomas, and 16 had other types of tumors. Mean distress as measured by DT was 5.37 (SD=3), and the mean total problem list score was 21 (SD=9.14), with the most common subtype being physical problems (mean 7.7, SD=4.5) and emotional problems (mean 3.8, SD=1.9). HADS-T score mean was 13.7 (SD=7.3), with the mean HADS-D and HADS-A subsets being 5.8 (SD=4) and 7.85 (SD=4.4) respectively. A Receiver Operating Curve (ROC) analysis was performed to determine the optimal cut-off point of the DT in our population. We obtained an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.71 (CI95%=0.61-0.81, p

Completion Checklist

COVER LETTER; TITLE PAGE; ABSTRACT; KEYWORDS; MANUSCRIPT; TABLE LEGENDS; FIGURE LEGENDS; REPORTING GUIDELINES FLOWCHART (IF NEEDED) PPTX; TABLES PPTX; FIGURES PPTX

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Morgenstern-Kaplan, Dan; Moreno-Jiménez, Sergio; Páez-Plascencia, Fernanda; Ruiz-Chow, Angel; and Flores-Vázquez, Fabiola (2021) "Validation of the Distress Thermometer in a Mexican population with brain tumors: A Diagnostic Accuracy Study," Archives of Neurosurgery: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://www.ansjournal.org/home/vol1/iss1/4