September 2024

Recent Research Publications- September 2024

Quality of life and survivorship in patients with low-grade ovarian cancer.

Lemieux M, Telles R, Goodheart M, Dahmoush L, Hagemann I, Penedo FJ, Nandakumar R, Cole SW, Sood AK, Lutgendorf SK, Thaker PH.

Gynecol Oncol. 2024 Aug 21;190:96-103. doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2024.08.010. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39173565.

  • High-grade (HGOC) and low-grade ovarian carcinoma (LGOC) are distinct malignancies with different biological features, treatment paradigms, and life expectancies. However, differences in quality of life (QOL), sleep, and depressive symptoms have not been examined by grade, and neither have inflammatory profiles associated with these symptoms. We aim to characterize QOL and biomarkers by OC grade.

Methods: Participants included patients with HGOC (N = 578) or LGOC (N = 85). Participants completed baseline assessments of psychosocial factors prior to primary surgery or neoadjuvant chemotherapy and contributed saliva for cortisol and blood for interleukin-6 (IL-6) quantification. Samples were collected intraoperatively to quantify tumor cortisol. General linear models were used to examine differences in biological and psychological variables by grade.

  • At baseline, patients with LGOC reported less depression (p = 0.018) and sleep disturbances (p = 0.014), but no significant difference in depressive mood (p = 0.11) or QOL (p = 0.51) compared to patients with HGOC, adjusting for age and disease stage. There were trends towards lower tumor cortisol levels (p = 0.078) in LGOC compared to HGOC. One-year post-diagnosis, we found a significant improvement in QOL and fatigue, and a decrease in vegetative depression and IL-6 levels irrespective of grade.

Conclusions: We present the first characterization of psychosocial experiences of patients with LGOC. Despite having a better disease prognosis, patients with LGOC were just as likely to have mood disturbances as those with HGOC. There was a trend towards differences in tumor cortisol by grade. Our findings highlight the need to address well-being in patients with both low- and high-grade ovarian malignancies.

For a full text of the article, click here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0090825824010643?via%3Dihub

Pelvic floor disorder prevalence and risk factors in a cohort of parous Ugandan women.

Vemulapalli R, Ngobi MD, Kiweewa FM, Jensen JE, Fleecs JD, Steffen HA, Wendt LH, Jackson JB, Kenne KA.

Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2024 Aug 15. doi: 10.1002/ijgo.15853. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39148276.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of pelvic floor disorders (PFDs) and associated risk factors among parous Ugandan women.

  • We performed a cross-sectional study of parous Ugandan women. Demographics and assessment for PFD were obtained. The presence of PFD was defined by participant symptom report, standardized questionnaires, and standard physical examination (pelvic organ prolapse quantification [POP-Q] and cough stress test [CST]).
  • A total of 159 women were enrolled in the study between June 2022 and June 2023. The median age was 35 years and median parity was 4. Forty-four (28%) women in the cohort reported symptoms of urinary incontinence. No women reported symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse or anal incontinence. Seventy-two (46%) participants had a positive CST and 93 (58.3%) had stage II or greater prolapse based on the POP-Q. Cesarean section was found to have a protective effect for the development of PFD (odds ratio [OR] 0.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.07-0.59, P = 0.004).
  • PFDs are prevalent among parous Ugandan women at rates similar to cohorts in other low- and middle-income countries. Cesarean section seems to be a protective factor against developing PFDs.

For a full text of the article, click here: https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijgo.15853

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