Antidepressant Adherence Linked to Increased Survival in Patients With Cancer, Study Finds

Astudy published this week inDepression& Anxiety suggests that among patients with cancer who are prescribed antidepressants, those who take the medication may live longer than those who are nonadherent.Patients with cancer are known to have higher rates of depression than the general public —a factor that may reduce adherence to cancer treatment and increase their risk of death. The findings “add to the pressing need to encourage adherence to [antidepressants] among cancer patients,” wrote Gal Shoval, M.D., of the Geha Mental Health Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, and colleagues.To examine the relationship between antidepressant adherence and mortality in people with cancer, Shoval and colleagues analyzed the medical records of patients with cancer who had at least one prescription for an antidepressant between January 2008 and January 2012. Patients were followed from the time of initial antidepressant prescription until death or the end of the four-year study.Patients were categorized into one of four adherence groups: Nonadherent if adherence was below 20%, poor adherence for those with 20% to 50% adherence, moderate adherence for those with 50% to 80% adherence, and good adherence for those with adherence above 80%. Of the 42,075 patients included in the analysis, 28.9% were nonadherent, 16.2% had poor adherence, 17.6% had moderate adherence, and 37.4% had good adherence.The researchers found that greater adherence to antidepressants was associated with decreased r...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: antidepressants anxiety cancer depression & Gal Shoval medication adherence survival Source Type: research