Roughly a third of the people diagnosed with lung cancer also experience signs of depression, Ohio State University investigators have found.
Common symptoms include high anxiety levels, impaired daily functioning, heightened pain and other physical symptoms, according to Barbara Andersen, Ph.D., the study’s lead author.
Providers should screen lung cancer patients for depression and act to refer them for mental health care services if warranted, Anderson added.
Findings are based on data from 186 patients who had been diagnosed with advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer, which accounts for more than 80% of all cases.
More than 9 in 10 of the people with severe depression indicated that the diagnosis made it more difficult to get along with others.Full findings appear in the journal Lung Cancer.
