Women who survive breast cancer face a higher risk of depression that can linger and require antidepressants, a new study finds.

 

Researchers in Copenhagen looked at data on nearly two million Danish women between 1998 and 2011, all of whom were initially free of cancer. During the study period, they found nearly 45,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer.

 

The risk of having to check into a hospital for severe depression was 70 per cent higher for the breast cancer patients in the first year after diagnosis than their cancer-free peers. The breast cancer patients were also three times more likely to use antidepressants during the first year after diagnosis.

 

And that depression did not go away quickly, said lead researcher Dr. Christoffer Johansen, a professor of oncology at the Danish Cancer Society Research Centre.

 

The women diagnosed with breast cancer used antidepressants more than their peers up to eight years after their diagnosis, he found.

 

“Doctors treating these women must be attentive to this problem and try to address the issues leading to a depression as part of the clinical treatment of breast cancer,” Johansen said.

 

The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

 

Only an association was seen between breast cancer and depression, and the researchers did not examine why the women were depressed, but Johansen shared some theories.

 

“Cancer is feared, as it may metastasize, recur and even kill you,” he said. “Many patients become overwhelmed when facing the diagnosis and treatment trajectory, and for some this exposure is so hard to cope with that they become depressed. In general, some 20 per cent of cancer patients experience a clinical depression during the first five years as cancer survivors.”

 

New York Times News Service