The influence of comprehensive psychological intervention on the immune function of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma / 中国实用护理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the influence of psychological intervention on the immune function of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods Forty nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with concomitant radiochemotherapy were divided into intervention group and control group by random digits table method with 20 cases each.Among concomitant radiochemotherapy nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients, intervention group were treated with comprehensive psychological behavior, and control group received only concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Both groups were investigated by Self-rating Anxiety Scale(SAS)and Self-rating Depression Scale(SDS).Natural killer cells activity were measured by flow cytometry. Results There were no significantly difference in score of SDS and SAS between two confirmed groups(P>0.05).After treatment,the score of SDS and SAS in intervention group were(45.26± 3.83), (42.57 ± 3.75) points, which were significantly lower than those of control group (52.68 ± 3.66), (51.16 ± 3.62) points, the difference was statistically significant(t =6.264, 7.370, P<0.05). Meanwhile, natural killer cell activity between two groups showed no significantly difference (P>0.05). However, the activity of natural killer cells in intervention group was 26.96±9.01,which was higher than that of control group 22.84 ± 7.19, there were statistically significant difference between two groups (t=2.120, P<0.05).There was a positive correlation between the value difference of SDS scores,SAS scores and natural killer cell activity between two groups (r=0.238, P=0.006; r=0.527, P=0.003). Conclusions Comprehensive psychological intervention can significantly not only improve the depression and anxiety of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients,but also enhance the activity of natural killer cells,which help maintain the leukocyte level of patients.