Depression, anxiety, and the risk of cancer: An individual participant data meta-analysis

Lonneke A van Tuijl*, Maartje Basten, Kuan-Yu Pan, Roel Vermeulen, Lützen Portengen, Alexander de Graeff, Joost Dekker, Mirjam I Geerlings, Adriaan Hoogendoorn, Femke Lamers, Adri C Voogd, Jessica Abell, Philip Awadalla, Aartjan T F Beekman, Ottar Bjerkeset, Andy Boyd, Yunsong Cui, Philipp Frank, Henrike Galenkamp, Bert GarssenSean Hellingman, Martijn Huisman, Anke Huss, Trynke R de Jong, Melanie R Keats, Almar A L Kok, Steinar Krokstad, Flora E van Leeuwen, Annemarie I Luik, Nolwenn Noisel, N Charlotte Onland-Moret, Yves Payette, Brenda W J H Penninx, Ina Rissanen, Annelieke M Roest, Rikje Ruiter, Robert A Schoevers, David Soave, Mandy Spaan, Andrew Steptoe, Karien Stronks, Erik R Sund, Ellen Sweeney, Emma L Twait, Alison Teyhan, W M Monique Verschuren, Kimberly D van der Willik, Judith G M Rosmalen, Adelita V Ranchor

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Depression and anxiety have long been hypothesized to be related to an increased cancer risk. Despite the great amount of research that has been conducted, findings are inconclusive. To provide a stronger basis for addressing the associations between depression, anxiety, and the incidence of various cancer types (overall, breast, lung, prostate, colorectal, alcohol-related, and smoking-related cancers), individual participant data (IPD) meta-analyses were performed within the Psychosocial Factors and Cancer Incidence (PSY-CA) consortium.

METHODS: The PSY-CA consortium includes data from 18 cohorts with measures of depression or anxiety (up to N = 319,613; cancer incidences, 25,803; person-years of follow-up, 3,254,714). Both symptoms and a diagnosis of depression and anxiety were examined as predictors of future cancer risk. Two-stage IPD meta-analyses were run, first by using Cox regression models in each cohort (stage 1), and then by aggregating the results in random-effects meta-analyses (stage 2).

RESULTS: No associations were found between depression or anxiety and overall, breast, prostate, colorectal, and alcohol-related cancers. Depression and anxiety (symptoms and diagnoses) were associated with the incidence of lung cancer and smoking-related cancers (hazard ratios [HRs], 1.06-1.60). However, these associations were substantially attenuated when additionally adjusting for known risk factors including smoking, alcohol use, and body mass index (HRs, 1.04-1.23).

CONCLUSIONS: Depression and anxiety are not related to increased risk for most cancer outcomes, except for lung and smoking-related cancers. This study shows that key covariates are likely to explain the relationship between depression, anxiety, and lung and smoking-related cancers. PREREGISTRATION NUMBER: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=157677.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3287-3299
Number of pages13
JournalCancer
Volume129
Issue number20
Early online date7-Aug-2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15-Oct-2023

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