In the European nation of France, close to one-third of women with breast cancer end up reporting limited or long-lasting depressive symptoms during and after treatment.
As released online in JAMA, the study included over 4,800 women as participants.
“In this cohort study, nearly a third of patients with breast cancer (BC) experienced temporary or lasting significant depressive symptoms during and after treatment,” the authors explained in their JAMA report.
“Improving early identification of women at risk of developing long-term or delayed depression is therefore critical to increase quality of life and overall survival. Subjected to validation, this study is an important first step toward personalized care of patients with BC at risk of depression.”
“These results suggest that special attention should be paid to looking for these factors over time starting from BC diagnosis, and affected patients could be identified early with an appropriate protocol and referred to supportive care,” the authors determined.
The research was funded in part by the French National Cancer Institute.
