Dr. Ana Prior Mier y Terán | Director of the CIF
Cancer is the third cause of death in Mexico and the second in Latin America. Each year approximately 200,000 new cases of cancer are registered in Mexico, of which about 40% have a fatal outcome. From the moment a patient is diagnosed, a long process of emotional deterioration begins, which is sometimes very difficult to overcome; therefore, scientists from all over the world are studying new alternatives for the psychological accompaniment of these patients, as it has been mindfulness.
Specifically, ovarian cancer is a disease whose symptoms are not very specific, which makes timely diagnosis difficult, most cases are detected at an advanced stage and 70% of cases present chemoresistance and/or recurrence This causes patients with this disease to have severe episodes of stress and depression, which affect not only their quality of life, but also adherence to treatment and the development of unhealthy habits; which generates a greater progression of the disease and sometimes reduces the survival rate.
Scientists from the United Kingdom developed a protocol aimed at measuring the well-being of patients through different variables. They selected women diagnosed with ovarian cancer at any stage, who had had a recurrence of the disease and who were not receiving any type of psychotherapy. They were invited to participate in a mindfulness training program, which included some techniques, such as: attention to breathing, body scanning, observation of the thought pattern, exploration of difficulties, cultivation of positive emotions and other very specific techniques for reducing stress and anxiety.
The evaluation was carried out using four different questionnaires: HADS to measure depression and anxiety, WEMWBS for the well-being scale, FMI that evaluates the level of mindfulness and EORTC-QLQ-OV28 that reports the quality of life of patients with ovarian cancer. . In addition, saliva samples (to measure cortisol levels at four different times of the day) and blood samples (to compare it with the levels of tumor markers, such as CA-125) were taken. Both the questionnaires and the saliva and blood samples were taken before, six and twelve weeks after starting the mindfulness training.
At the conclusion of the study, it was found that the patients had considerably reduced their levels of depression and anxiety, in addition to having improved their quality of life, with a 35% increase in attitude regarding the disease and treatment, in addition to having reported a decrease in symptoms. However, no significant changes in cortisol levels and tumor markers were reported. The participants reported that social interaction and support within the group was very useful to improve their mood, in addition, that the practice of mindfulness helped them sleep better.
The results in this study may be very conservative, since only 28 study subjects were included and the saliva samples could not be analyzed in their entirety. But, it establishes an interesting proposal to be able to improve the quality of life of patients with ovarian cancer and other cancer patients, at a low cost and without the need for a large infrastructure; which provides hope for thousands of people currently living with this disease.
REFERENCES
Arden-Close, E. et. to (2020). “Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Recurrent Ovarian Cancer: A Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study.” Integrative Cancer Therapies. Volume 19: p. 1–10.
