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Cumulative burden of psychiatric disorders and self-harm across 26 adult cancers

Chang, Wai Hoong; Lai, Alvina G; (2022) Cumulative burden of psychiatric disorders and self-harm across 26 adult cancers. Nature Medicine 10.1038/s41591-022-01740-3. Green open access

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Abstract

Cancer is a life-altering event causing considerable psychological distress. However, information on the total burden of psychiatric disorders across all common adult cancers and therapy exposures has remained scarce. Here, we estimated the risk of self-harm after incident psychiatric disorder diagnosis in patients with cancer and the risk of unnatural deaths after self-harm in 459,542 individuals. Depression was the most common psychiatric disorder in patients with cancer. Patients who received chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery had the highest cumulative burden of psychiatric disorders. Patients treated with alkylating agent chemotherapeutics had the highest burden of psychiatric disorders, whereas those treated with kinase inhibitors had the lowest burden. All mental illnesses were associated with an increased risk of subsequent self-harm, where the highest risk was observed within 12 months of the mental illness diagnosis. Patients who harmed themselves were 6.8 times more likely to die of unnatural causes of death compared with controls within 12 months of self-harm (hazard ratio (HR), 6.8; 95% confidence interval (CI), 4.3-10.7). The risk of unnatural death after 12 months was markedly lower (HR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.5-2.7). We provide an extensive knowledge base to help inform collaborative cancer-psychiatric care initiatives by prioritizing patients who are most at risk.

Type: Article
Title: Cumulative burden of psychiatric disorders and self-harm across 26 adult cancers
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/s41591-022-01740-3
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01740-3
Language: English
Additional information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Medicine, Research & Experimental, Research & Experimental Medicine, TESTICULAR CANCER, PARANEOPLASTIC SYNDROMES, MENTAL-DISORDERS, OF-LIFE, DEPRESSION, CARE, INDIVIDUALS, DIAGNOSIS, SURVIVORS, SUICIDE
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Health Informatics
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10146507
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