Mortality rates are almost 40 percent higher for cancer patients diagnosed with major or minor depression, according to researchers at the University of British Columbia, which polled more than two dozen international clinical studies.
"We found an increased risk of death in patients who report more depressive symptoms than others, and also in patients who have been diagnosed with depressive disorder compared with patients who do not have," Jillian Raso, principal investigator of the report said.
The report was published in the online edition of the Journal of the American Cancer Society Cancer.
Eighty-five percent of cancer patients consider their state of mind affects how quickly the disease progresses, but Canadian researchers said that belief is not really supported by the few studies that looked at him.
The researchers admitted they were surprised by the lack of clear link between depression and cancer progression, and warned that it may be because very few clinical studies have been done on the subject.
(Reporting by Allan Dowd, editing by Rob Wilson)
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