Prevalence of Substance Use Disorder Higher Among Some Cancer Survivors

Heavy alcohol use and tobacco use are known to increase the risk of some cancers, but less is known of what happens to people who have a substance use problem after surviving cancer. Areport inJAMA Oncology now suggests that substance use disorder is more prevalent among survivors of head and neck cancer, esophageal and gastric cancer, cervical cancer, and melanoma than survivors of breast, prostate, and colon cancers.“Our findings underscore the need to understand and address the needs of cancer survivors with comorbid [substance use disorder],” wrote Katie F. Jones, Ph.D., of the VA Boston Healthcare System and colleagues. “Our results also highlight certain populations of cancer survivors who would likel y benefit the most from such interventions based on their higher prevalence of SUD, including those with a lifetime history of and those with recently diagnosed cervical and head and neck cancers.”For the cross-sectional study of adult cancer survivors, Jones and colleagues analyzed data collected between 2015 and 2020 as part of the annualNational Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The researchers defined substance use disorder (SUD) as “meeting at least 1 of 4DSM-IV criteria for abuse or at least 3 of 6DSM-IV criteria for dependence. ” The researchers calculated the weighted population prevalence of SUD by cancer type.A total of 6,101 adult cancer survivors (about 57% aged 65 and older; 62% female) were included in the analysis. Across cancers, the weight...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: alcohol use cancer cancer survivor cannabis use dependence DSM-IV JAMA Oncology nsduh substance use disorder Source Type: research