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Study depression decrease survival rate in women with breast cancer
Are past depressions affecting our illnesses? For women with a history of depression and a later breast cancer, this seems quite possible. Researchers have now found that women with depression before their cancer diagnosis have a worse chance of survival in later breast cancer.
Researchers at the Danish Cancer Society Research Center in Copenhagen found in their study that depression before breast cancer can affect the survival rate of women. The physicians published the results of their study in the journal "Journal of Clinical Oncology".
If breast cancer is diagnosed in women, it can also cause depression. Researchers are now studying the effects of depression before breast cancer on the likelihood of survival. (Image: SENTELLO / fotolia.com)Physicians analyze the data of more than 45,000 women
In their study, the Danish experts examined more than 45,000 women with early-stage malignancies. Thirty-five percent of previously antidepressant-treated patients died within five years of their cancer diagnosis. If women had never taken such drugs for depression, the value was only 11 percent, says author Dr. Nis Palm Suppli from the Danish Cancer Society Research Center.
Depressed women begin less recommended therapies
One reason for this could be that women with depression are less likely to start a potential treatment or continue on a recommended therapy. As a result, tumors can grow and the cancer can continue to spread in the body, the experts speculate.
Researchers are studying women with depression before their cancer
Many people develop depression as a result of a cancer diagnosis. However, in the most recent research, physicians sought to determine the potential impact of previous depression on the cancer prognosis. The experts focused on women with a history of depression before their cancer diagnosis.
13 percent of the participants had previously taken antidepressants
The researchers analyzed data from Danish women with breast cancer who were diagnosed between 1998 and 2011. Overall, 6,068 (13 percent) women were previously treated with antidepressants. 744 women (2 percent) were previously undergoing clinical treatment for depression.
Many depressed women with breast cancer do not start a recommended treatment
Physicians found that women with a history of depression have a 14 percent higher chance of breast cancer treatment that did not follow recommended treatment guidelines.
Participants died more often when they had depression before
Women with previous depression had a 21 percent increased risk of dying of any cause during the study. In addition, their chances of dying from breast cancer were increased by 11 percent, the researchers explain.
Women with depression should be treated with special care by doctors
Doctors should be extra care in the treatment of women with a history of depression, experts suggest. This will ensure that these patients start all possible recommended treatments for breast cancer and continue to do so until the end. Such a therapy can sometimes take up to several years, Dr. Suppli.
Depressed women take medication irregularly and miss treatments
Depression can cause some of the affected women to miss treatments or not to take their medication on a regular basis, the author explains. In the worst cases, depression leads to discontinuation of ongoing treatment, suicidal thoughts or even suicide.
Occurring depression affects the standard care of breast cancer
The findings underscore the wide-ranging effects of depression on women's care, researchers say. However, the exact causes of the relationship between depression and poorer survival in breast cancer are largely unclear. Occurring depression could compromise standard care, scientists suggest. (As)