Depression and survival in head and neck cancer patients

Abstract

The results emphasize the need for early identification and treatment of depression in HNC patients, as well as the establishment of policies to routinely screen these patients throughout the cancer treatment process.

Depressive symptoms predict head and neck cancer survival: Examining plausible behavioral and biological pathways

“…Depressive symptoms before chemoradiation treatment predict shortened survival among patients with head and neck cancer. Our findings are consistent with recent studies showing that depression predicts early mortality among patients with head and neck cancer . Although we found that depressive symptoms were associated with increased treatment disruption, we did not find evidence that this mediated survival, likely because of the low percentage of patients with treatment disruption.…”

“…8 A recent epidemiological analysis using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data from 3466 patients with head and neck cancer demonstrated significantly elevated mortality rates for cancer patients diagnosed with depression. 9 In contrast, 2 previous studies reported nonsignificant associations between depressed mood and survival in head and neck samples. 10,11 However, the assessments may have been less sensitive 12 or may not have provided valid or reliable assessments of depression in the samples.…”

“…Depression has also been shown to predict 5‐year overall survival for patients with advanced‐stage oropharyngeal cancer . A recent epidemiological analysis using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data from 3466 patients with head and neck cancer demonstrated significantly elevated mortality rates for cancer patients diagnosed with depression . In contrast, 2 previous studies reported nonsignificant associations between depressed mood and survival in head and neck samples .…”

Depressive symptoms in relation to overall survival in people with head and neck cancer: A longitudinal cohort study

“…Previous studies on the association between clinical depression or DS and survival in people with HNC reported mixed results. Some studies reported no association, while others reported worse survival or higher mortality in people with depression or DS . Half of these studies were, however, limited by small number of events (eg, disease‐related or overall deaths), hampering the ability to account for different covariates in the survival analyses.…”

“…A recent large longitudinal study that measured depression more than once in people with HNC in relation to survival found that depression in the 2 years before HNC diagnosis as well as depression in the year after diagnosis was associated with worsened cancer‐specific and overall survival . In that study, however, no distinction was made between people who recovered from their depression during follow‐up and those who did not.…”