Skip to main content

Depression May Lower Breast Cancer Survival

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Aug 5, 2024.

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Aug. 5, 2024 -- Depression can lower a woman’s chances of surviving breast cancer, a new study reports.

Women with breast cancer and depression are more than three times as likely to die as women without either condition, researchers found.

By comparison, breast cancer patients who aren’t also suffering from depression are only 45% more likely to die than healthy women.

“The combination is what makes the risk of death increase tremendously and leads to thousands of years of life lost,” said lead researcher Jagdish Khubchandani, a professor of public health sciences at New Mexico State University.

“We found in our study that the co-occurrence of depression further reduces survival among women with breast cancer,” Khubchandani added in a university news release. “Unfortunately, many women with breast cancer do not get timely or quality care for mental health issues such as depression.”

For the study, researchers analyzed data on more than 4,700 women aged 45 and older, about 5% of whom had breast cancer while nearly 13% had depression. They were followed for about eight years.

“More than 4 million American women are living with breast cancer today, and more than a quarter-million American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year,” Khubchandani said. “Unfortunately, a large proportion of women with breast cancer suffer from depression, poor mental health and lower quality of life.”

Results show that certain types of women were more likely to have both depression and breast cancer, including those with low income or education, members of racial and ethnic minorities, and those with other chronic diseases or unhealthy lifestyles.

The new study was published recently in the journal Brain Sciences.

Researchers said the results show that women with breast cancer need to receive mental health support alongside their cancer treatment.

“We all know or will know someone with breast cancer in our lifetimes,” Khubchandani said. “Most likely, they will have poor psychological health or lower quality of life. It is in part because we do not have a comprehensive approach to health care for women with cancer.”

Sources

  • New Mexico State University, news release, July 26, 2024

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted August 2024

Read this next

U.S. Suicide Death Rate Is Rising Again

THURSDAY, Sept. 26, 2024 -- U.S. suicide rates are ticking back upward again after a dip during the pandemic, new statistics show. Suicide deaths per 100,000 people had fallen...

988 Mental Health Crisis Calls Now Link to Caller Location, Not Area Code

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 25, 2024 -- In a move that could mean more Americans in crisis get help and get it quickly, federal officials announced Tuesday that major cellphone carriers now...

Almost 200 Chemicals Linked to Breast Cancer Are Found in Food Packaging

TUESDAY, Sept. 24, 2024 -- Food sold in shrink wrap, on cardboard trays or in paper containers might contain any of nearly 200 chemicals linked to breast cancer, a new study...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.