Spouses Of Breast Cancer Patients Suffer Higher Depression Levels
Posted: Mar 16, 2011 10:28 AM
Breast cancer also takes a toll on the spouses of patients, according to a recently published study.
Researchers found that men whose partners were diagnosed with breast cancer were 39 percent more likely to be hospitalized due to major depression, bipolar disease, and other serious mood-altering conditions compared with men whose partners were not diagnosed with breast cancer.
Researchers in Denmark evaluated how a diagnosis of breast cancer impacted the mental health of the patient's male partner-specifically, how often male partners were hospitalized with affective disorders. Data were analyzed from over 1.1 million men who were followed for 13 years. Men included in the analysis were 30 years or older and had been with the same partner for a minimum of five years. All 1.1 million men included in the analysis had no history of hospitalization for an affective disorder.
Researchers found:
* 20,538 partners of the 1.1 million men evaluated were diagnosed with breast cancer.
* 180 men of the 20,538 whose partners were diagnosed with breast cancer were hospitalized with an affective disorder; men whose partners were diagnosed with breast cancer were 39 percent more likely to be hospitalized with an affective disorder.
* An increase in likelihood of hospitalization due to an affective disorder was also linked to a partner's severity of breast cancer, breast cancer recurrence, as well as death due to breast cancer.
* 180 men of the 20,538 whose partners were diagnosed with breast cancer were hospitalized with an affective disorder; men whose partners were diagnosed with breast cancer were 39 percent more likely to be hospitalized with an affective disorder.
* An increase in likelihood of hospitalization due to an affective disorder was also linked to a partner's severity of breast cancer, breast cancer recurrence, as well as death due to breast cancer.
Severe depression is clearly a challenge that many partners of women with breast cancer face, researchers say. Educating patients and their partners about the risk of experiencing mental health challenges as well as providing appropriate depression screening for spouses and caregivers of cancer patients is warranted.
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