Study
PLCO
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Project ID
PLCO-1027
Initial CDAS Request Approval
Aug 22, 2022
Title
Identifying risk factors for depression and the role of depression in cancer
Summary
People with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs), including comorbid depression and cancer, now comprise over one-quarter of the U.S. population, and that percentage continues to grow. The depression rate in cancer patients is twice the prevalence in the general population. Moreover, the prevalence increases with disease severity and symptoms such as pain and fatigue among cancer patients. The patients could feel low energy, decreased drive, trouble making decisions, and uselessness/helplessness. Furthermore, the patients show a significantly higher risk of adverse outcomes and complications, more clinic visits, and more medication intake. Consequently, depression ominously results in a poorer Quality of Life (QOL), interferes with medical care, compromises patient outcomes, and leads to higher mortality rates in cancer patients (1). Several studies suggest that depression predicts cancer progression and mortality, and effective psychotherapeutic treatment for depression may affect the course of cancer. Therefore, prevention and early detection of depression represent our best hope of overcoming this disorder. Our long-term goal is to identify the risk factors among cancer patients with depression, helping to develop a preventive and therapeutic stratagem. Our immediate objective is to identify the risk factors of depression in cancer patients. We will also examine if there is a relationship between depression and cancer using the prostate dataset of PLCO, such as demography, diagnosis, and therapeutic outcome data. The large sample size and unique cancer population with recorded depression diagnosis of the PLCO may significantly increase the statistical power, allowing us to identify baseline risk factors for depression and evaluate the role of depression in cancer. The expected results may provide novel information to translate into knowledge for a better understanding of the relationships between depression and cancer, helping prevention and treatment, and improving the QOL of cancer patients.
Aims
We hypothesize that environmental risk factors play an important role in depression among cancer patients. In addition, depression is associated with disease severity and symptoms and poor therapeutic outcome. Therefore, our immediate objective is to identify the factors. To achieve this objective, the following Specific Aims are proposed:
1. To identify the risk factors by studying the relationships between depression and variables such as age, sex, education, sleep, smoking, and medical history in patients with prostate cancer.
2. To examine the role of depression in cancer by studying the relationships between depression and prostate cancer, such as types, stage, and treatment outcome.
Related Publications
(1) Spiegel, D. Cancer and depression. Br J Psychiatry Suppl, 109-116 (1996).
Collaborators
