Correlation between preoperative psychological personality traits of glioma patients and psychological distress in their primary caregivers.

Objective: To explore the relationship between preoperative psychological personality traits of glioma patients and preoperative psychological distress of their primary caregivers.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 85 glioma patients (tumor group) who were admitted to our hospital from February 2016 to December 2018 and 85 primary caregivers. Forty-one healthy volunteers were used as controls.

Results: The scores of 9 scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) increased significantly in the tumor group compared to the healthy controls (P < 0.05), including L (lie): [(56.0 ± 11.5 vs. 50.0 ± 10.0)], F (fake): [(53.0 ± 10.6 vs. 41.7 ± 8.8)], Hs (hypochondriasis): [(55.6 ± 11.2 vs. 44.2 ± 8.3)], D (depressive personality): [(49.2 ± 9.6 vs. 42.2 ± 10.3)], Mf (masculinity-femininity): [(49.9 ± 9.4 vs. 42.8 ± 14.0)], Pt (psychasthenia): [(51.5 ± 10.0 vs. 40.9 ± 11.5)], Sc (schizophrenia): [(51.2 ± 10.6 vs. 40.2 ± 10.6)], Ma (hypomania): [(51.8 ± 9.1 vs. 47.7 ± 9.4)] and Si (social introversion): [(46.6 ± 8.7 vs. 36.7 ± 13.0)]. However, the K (defensive responses) scale score in the tumor group decreased significantly (52.1 ± 13.9 vs. 58.8 ± 12.1, P = 0.009). The F (fake): [(r=0.253, P=0.019 / r=0.215, P=0.048)], Hs (hypochondriasis): [(r=0.310, P=0.004 / r=0.345, P=0.001)], Pt (psychasthenia): [(r=0.299, P=0.006 / r=0.258, P=0.017)], and Sc (schizophrenia): [(r=0.325,P=0.002/r=0.322, P=0.003)] of preoperative glioma patients were positively correlated with their preoperative psychological distress (depression/anxiety); the D (depressive personality): [(r=0.229, P=0.035)] of preoperative glioma patients was positively correlated with the preoperative depression symptoms of their primary caregivers, and the Hy (hysteria): [(r=0.233, P=0.002)] and Pd (psychopathic deviate): [(r=0.215, P=0.006)] of preoperative glioma patients were positively correlated with the preoperative anxiety symptoms of their primary caregivers.

Conclusions: The preoperative psychological personality traits of glioma patients were positively correlated with preoperative symptoms of depression and anxiety in primary caregivers.