May 4, 2024

The Silent Saboteur: How Depression Influences Breast Cancer Survival

A study released in CANCER discovered that anxiety before or after a breast cancer medical diagnosis is linked to a lower possibility of survival. Anxiety pre-diagnosis had a 26% higher danger of death, while post-diagnosis depression had a 50% higher danger. The findings highlight the importance of depression screening and management in cancer care.
Studys findings recommend that discovering and treating depression are critical to breast cancer client health.
In a recent study, having anxiety prior to or after a breast cancer diagnosis was connected with a lower likelihood of survival. The findings are published today (April 17) by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
For the study, Bin Huang, DrPH, of the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center, and his associates evaluated information from the Kentucky Cancer Registry to identify adult females detected with primary intrusive breast cancer in 2007– 2011. Making use of the health claims– linked cancer windows registry information, the team categorized clients as having no depression medical diagnosis, depression medical diagnosis just prior to cancer diagnosis, anxiety medical diagnosis just after cancer diagnosis, or relentless depression specified as anxiety before and after cancer medical diagnosis. The team also examined patients receipt of very first course guideline-recommended treatment as suggested by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network breast cancer treatment standards.

Among 6,054 clients, 4.1%, 3.7%, and 6.2% of clients had persistent depression, depression pre-diagnosis only, and anxiety post-diagnosis only, respectively. Analyses indicated that 29.2% of patients did not receive guideline-recommended breast cancer treatment. Also, during an average follow-up of 4 years, 26.3% of patients died.
Compared with patients with no anxiety, clients with post-diagnosis just or consistent anxiety had a comparable probability of receiving guideline-recommended treatment, but patients with depression pre-diagnosis just had 25% lower chances of getting guideline-concordant care, although this finding was partially substantial. Extra research is needed to determine the potential factors for this association.
Depression pre-diagnosis just and anxiety post-diagnosis only (but not consistent anxiety) were linked with even worse survival compared with no depression. Particularly, depression pre-diagnosis was connected with a 26% higher risk of death, and depression post-diagnosis was associated with a 50% greater danger. Patients who did not get guideline-recommended treatment faced a 118% greater danger of death than those who received suggested care.
Compared to clients residing in non-Appalachian Kentucky, patients living in Appalachia were 18% less likely to have actually received recommended care, but private investigators did not discover any considerable differences in survival.
The findings recommend that dealing with and identifying anxiety at the time of breast cancer medical diagnosis and beyond can be crucial to patient care and survival.
” An unexpected result from this research study is that clients with persistent anxiety did not experience worse survival compared to clients with no anxiety,” said Dr. Huang. “Given that under-diagnosis and under-treatment of anxiety are typical amongst cancer patients, persistent depression could be an indication that clients anxiety may have been well managed. For this reason, this particular outcome recommends the importance of anxiety screening and management throughout a cancer clients care.”
Dr. Huang kept in mind that population-based cancer windows registry data improve population-based cancer results research. “Utilizing linked health claims data and cancer computer registry data in this research study showed the worth of data linkages across various sources for analyzing potential health variations and determining where improvements in cancer care are required,” he stated. “More rigorous studies are required in anxiety management and throughout various cancer websites and client populations. Consequently, results from these research studies may even more form policies and standards for anxiety management in cancer care.”
Referral: “Influence of depression on breast cancer treatment and survival: A Kentucky population-based study” by Feitong Lei, Robin C. Vanderpool, Laurie E. McLouth, Edward H. Romond, Quan Chen, Eric B. Durbin, Thomas T. Tucker, Eric Tai and Bin Huang, 17 April 2023, CANCER.DOI: 10.1002/ cncr.34676.

Making use of the health claims– connected cancer pc registry information, the group classified patients as having no anxiety diagnosis, anxiety diagnosis only prior to cancer diagnosis, anxiety medical diagnosis only after cancer medical diagnosis, or persistent anxiety specified as depression prior to and after cancer medical diagnosis. Among 6,054 clients, 4.1%, 3.7%, and 6.2% of patients had relentless depression, anxiety pre-diagnosis only, and anxiety post-diagnosis only, respectively. Anxiety pre-diagnosis only and anxiety post-diagnosis just (but not consistent anxiety) were linked with worse survival compared with no depression.” An unexpected result from this research study is that patients with consistent depression did not experience worse survival compared with patients with no anxiety,” stated Dr. Huang. “Given that under-diagnosis and under-treatment of anxiety are typical amongst cancer clients, consistent depression might be an indication that patients depression might have been well managed.