Pessimism as a predictor of emotional morbidity one year following breast cancer surgery

One year after surgery, 34% of women with breast cancer experienced anxiety and 12% experienced depression.

• The prevalence of anxiety decreased from 34% at diagnosis to 26% after one year, while depression decreased from 12% to 9%.
• Pessimism was identified as the strongest predictor of both anxiety and depression one year post-surgery.
• Optimists with preoperative anxiety had about six times the risk of experiencing anxiety after one year compared to optimists without preoperative anxiety.
• For pessimists, a more negative outlook on their future was associated with a higher risk of developing anxiety after one year.
• Pessimists with a helpless or hopeless coping style at diagnosis had three times greater risk of experiencing depression one year following surgery.

AI simplified