Sense of coherence and risk of depression in leukaemic patients

Objectives: In the study group of 54 inpatients treated for acute leukaemia: 1) to analyse the correlation between sense of coherence (SOC) and depression; 2) to assess the postulated stability of SOC in stress of diagnosis and chemotherapy in the first three months of acute leukaemia; 3) to investigate SOC and depression in the context of prognosis for 1-year survival.
Results: The mean SOC value in leukaemic patients was high and comparable to the controls. Significant negative correlations were observed in total SOC and depression scores in both the 4th and the 12th week of observation. The total SOC and manageability of SOC were significant higher in the non-depressed group compared to the control group. Statistically significant differences in total SOC were observed between the depressed and non-depressed group in the 4th and in the 12th week of the study. The second measurement of SOC (in the 12th week) in the non-depressed group showed a significant increase in SOC compared to the first examination. The second measurement in the depressed group showed no significant differences. There was no correlation between either depression scores or SOC scores and course of the haematological disease and 1-year survival in this study.
Conclusions: The high SOC scores at the beginning of the treatment and an increase of total SOC in the next two months of observation seem to have prognostic value for absence of coincidental depressive symptoms in leukaemic patients. This study did not confirm prognostic value of depressive symptoms and SOC value for 1-year survival in acute leukaemia.