Untreated depression is tied with prostate cancer recurrence

Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that begins in the prostate gland cells and is found only in males.

Whether treating prostate cancer survivors with a depressive disorder with antidepressants can affect their cancer outcomes is unknown. They evaluated the association between antidepressant use and prostate cancer recurrence, in survivors with comorbid depressive disorders.

The researchers conducted a longitudinal cohort study of 10,017 men with prostate cancer (stages I-II) diagnosed who also had a comorbid depressive disorder followed a maximum of 22 years, and examined rates of biochemical recurrence by antidepressant medication use. We conducted multivariable Cox models based on time-dependent antidepressant drug use status and examined the risk of biochemical recurrence by the cumulative duration of antidepressant use.

Results of the study are:

• Of these 10,017 survivors, 1842 (18%) experienced biochemical recurrence over 69,500 person-years of follow-up.
• The prostate cancer biochemical recurrence rate was greater with antidepressant non-use (31.3/1000 person-years) than antidepressant use (23.5/1000 person-years).
• In Cox proportional hazards multivariable-adjusted models, non-use of antidepressants was associated with a 34% increased risk of biochemical recurrence compared to antidepressant use (HR = 1.34, 95% CI: 1.24-1.44).
• More extended use of antidepressants was associated with a lower biochemical recurrence risk (P trend test < 0.001).

Thus, Untreated depressive disorders in prostate cancer patients may be associated with an increased risk of biochemical recurrence.

Reference:

Haque R, Reading S, Irwin MR, Chen LH, Slezak J. Antidepressant medication use and prostate cancer recurrence in men with depressive disorders. Cancer Causes Control. 2022 Sep 9. doi: 10.1007/s10552-022-01623-5. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36083407.

Keywords:

Untreated, depression, prostate, cancer, recurrence, Depression, General Medicine, Oncology, Vaccination, Reina Haque, Stephanie Reading, Michael R Irwin, Lie Hong Chen, Jeff Slezak, Cancer Causes & Control