Changes in parents' psychotropic medication use following child's cancer diagnosis: A fixed‐effects register‐study in Finland

Abstract

Background Symptoms of depression and anxiety are elevated among parents of children with cancer. However, knowledge of parents' psychotropic medication use following child's cancer diagnosis is scarce. Methods We use longitudinal Finnish register data on 3266 mothers and 2687 fathers whose child (aged 0–19) was diagnosed with cancer during 2000–2016. We record mothers' and fathers' psychotropic medication use (at least one annual purchase of anxiolytics, hypnotics, sedatives, or antidepressants) 5 years before and after the child's diagnosis and assess within‐individual changes in medication use by time since diagnosis, cancer type, child's age, presence of siblings, and parent's living arrangements and education using linear probability models with the individual fixed‐effects estimator. The fixed‐effects models compare each parent's annual probability of psychotropic medication use after diagnosis to their annual probability of medication use during the 5‐year period before the diagnosis. Results Psychotropic medication use was more common among mothers than fathers already before the child's diagnosis, 11.2% versus 7.3%. Immediately after diagnosis, psychotropic medication use increased by 6.0 (95% CI 4.8–7.2) percentage points among mothers and by 3.2 (CI 2.1–4.2) percentage points among fathers. Among fathers, medication use returned to pre‐diagnosis level by the second year, except among those whose child was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia or lymphoblastic lymphoma. Among mothers of children with a central nervous system cancer, medication use remained persistently elevated during the 5‐year follow‐up. For mothers with other under‐aged children or whose diagnosed child was younger than 10 years, the return to pre‐diagnosis level was also slow. Conclusions Having a child with cancer clearly increases parents' psychotropic medication use. The increase is smaller and more short‐lived among fathers, but among mothers its duration depends on both cancer type and family characteristics. Our results suggest that an increased care burden poses particular strain to the long‐term mental well‐being of mothers.

A longitudinal evaluation on 3-year change of anxiety and depression, and their risk factors among parents of childhood and adolescence patients with resectable osteosarcoma: A cohort study

“…Regarding the status of anxiety and depression among parents of children with cancer, it has been reported that anxiety and depression deteriorate among parents of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and central nervous system cancer [ 23 ] ; moreover, it also has been reported that symptoms of anxiety and depression tend to be alleviated over time for parents of child cancer patients from diagnosis to 5 years. [ 17 ] However, the data about the longitudinal change of anxiety and depression among parents of childhood and adolescence patients with osteosarcoma is scarce.…”

Parental separation risk before and after the diagnosis of a child physical health condition

“…In the literature on the impact of child health conditions on parental mental health, effects have been observed when children have life-threatening health conditions like cancer. In such cases, Metsä-Simola et al (2022) found evidence of both an initial shock and persistent strain, particularly among mothers. Increased mental health problems among parents have also been observed when children are diagnosed with less immediately life-threatening but still severe conditions, such as diabetes (Helgeson et al 2012), epilepsy (Carmassi et al 2020;Reilly et al 2018), and inflammatory bowel disease (Baudino et al 2022).…”

Parenting a child with cancer and maintaining a healthy couple relationship: Findings from the Family Talk Intervention

“…Previous research shows that a high proportion of parents of children with cancer report distress, such as anxiety, post‐traumatic stress symptoms, worry, and nervousness 2,3 . The burden of care often places a strain on the well‐being of parents, and, accordingly, an increased risk of psychotropic medication use has been reported, especially among mothers 4,5 . In addition, having a child with cancer may negatively impact levels of income and employment status, which can put further strain on the family 6 .…”