Antidepressant medication in patients with advanced cancer--an observational study
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Literature reviews suggest limited evidence of efficacy of antidepressant medication in patients with advanced cancer. This study was carried out to observe the longitudinal effect of antidepressant medication in a cohort of advanced cancer patients. METHOD: Patients were recruited from hospice day care settings and followed up longitudinally by series of measures for depression for 6 months or until death. RESULTS: Six hundred and twenty nine patients recruited. One hundred and fifty six patients in total (25%) were receiving antidepressant medication for a median of 9.5 weeks (range 0-36 weeks) and a mean of 12.2 weeks. There was no significant difference in scores on depression measures over time for patients receiving antidepressant medication. CONCLUSION: Antidepressant medication for advanced cancer patients appeared to have little impact on depression scores. We postulate the holistic approaches within hospice day care may in themselves be interventions for depression thereby masking effect of pharmacological treatment. Further research should explore multi-intervention models for management of depression in advanced cancer.
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Psychotherapy is the treatment of choice for depression ahead of pharmacological treatment in these patients due to poor tolerability and drug interactions of antidepressants, similar results between medication and placebo in cancer, and patient preference.
“es el tratamiento de elección en depresión por delante del tratamiento farmacológico, por la mala tolerabilidad e interacciones farmacológicas de los antidepresivos en estos pacientes (27 ,28) , porque se han encontrado resultados similares entre la medicación y el placebo en personas con cáncer (29) , y porque los pacientes, tanto oncológicos como no oncológicos, suelen preferirla a la medicación”
From AVANZACT: protocolo e intervención psicoterapéutica en cáncer avanzado basados en Terapia de Aceptación y Compromiso. (2025) · cites this paper as [28]
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Elements: in this month’s issue
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Elements: in this month's issue
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- Authors
- Lloyd-Williams, M., Payne, S., Reeve, J., & Kolamunnage Dona, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- Venue
- QJM
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2013-06-03
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 995-1001
- ISSN
- 0033-5622 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2725
- 1460-2393
- OpenAlex
- W2042474539
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3
- FWCI
- 1.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- QJM (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR/CS/009/013)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine › Pain Management and Opioid Use
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative and Oncologic Care
- Keywords
- antidepressants, advanced cancer, depression, palliative care, holistic intervention, depression treatment
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Antidepressive Agents, Depression, England, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Neoplasms, Psychotherapy, Social Support, Young Adult
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