A Comparasion of the Risk of Post-Operative Depressive Disorder between Breast Conserving Surgery and Mastectomy

Background and Aims: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, and as a component of treatment nearly all will face surgery –breast-conservation surgery (BCS) or mastectomy. Several studies have attempted to evaluate the psychological impact of different surgical treatments on patients with breast cancer. However, the risk of depression after BCS compared with mastectomy remained unclear. This study therefore aimed to compare the prevalence of depression between patients with BCS compared with mastectomy in Taiwan, using a seven-year nationwide population-based database. Methods: This study used the National Health Insurance Research Database.We selected patients who were hospitalized with a principal procedure of mastectomy or breast-conservation surgery between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2007 from the NHIRD. We first exclude patients who had been diagnosed with depressive disorder prior to their index surgery. Cox proportional regression analysis was used to explore the risk of depressive disorder within one year after their index surgeries between patients undergoing mastectomy or breast-conservation surgery.