Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSDepression increases cancer patients’ risk of dying
Cancer patients who suffer from depression are more likely to die from the disease than those who do not, suggest Canadian researchers.
The team from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, analysed 26 studies looking at the effect of depression on cancer patients’ survival, involving almost 10,000 patients.
They found that death rates were up to 25 per cent higher in patients showing depressive symptoms, and 39 per cent higher in those actually diagnosed with major or minor depression, emphasising the need to screen cancer patients for signs of psychological distress.
“We found an increased risk of death in patients who report more depressive symptoms than others, and also in patients who have been diagnosed with a depressive disorder compared to patients who have not,” the researchers said.
However, they added that the risk of death associated with depression in cancer patients is still small, so patients should not feel that they must maintain a positive attitude to beat their disease.
Future studies should look at the effects of depression on different types of cancer, the researchers said.
The study is due to be published online in the journal Cancer.
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Readers' comments (1)
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2009 1:59 pm
This is not new research. In the eighties similar studies were done by Peter Maguire and his team, hence the birth of Clinical Nurse Specialists in Breast Cancer!
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