Most longitudinal studies of depressive symptoms reported mean symptom scores that tend to obscure interindividual heterogeneity in the symptom experience. The identification of subgroups of patients with distinct trajectories of depressive symptoms may help identify high risk individuals who require an intervention. This study aimed to identify subgroups of breast cancer patients (n=398) with distinct trajectories of depressive symptoms in the first six months after surgery, as well as predictors of these trajectories.

Growth mixture modeling was used to identify the latent classes based on Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale scores completed prior to and monthly for six months after surgery.

Four latent classes of patients with distinct depressive symptom trajectories were identified: Resilient (38.9%), Subsyndromal (45.2%), Delayed (11.3%), and Peak (4.5%). Patients in the Subsyndromal class were significantly younger than patients in the Resilient class. Compared to the Resilient class, Subsyndromal, Delayed, and Peak classes had higher mean trait and state anxiety scores prior to surgery. Except for axillary lymph node dissection (ALND), disease- and treatment-related characteristics did not differ across the classes. A greater proportion of women in the Subsyndromal class had an ALND compared to those in the Resilient class.

Breast cancer patients experience different trajectories of depressive symptoms after surgery. Of note, over 60% of these women were classified into one of three distinct subgroups with clinically significant levels of depressive symptoms. Identification of phenotypic and genotypic predictors of symptom trajectories after cancer treatment warrants additional investigation.