Anxiety and depression risk in Taiwan women with breast cancer and cervical cancer

Chiu-Ming Yang; Fung-Chang Sung; Chih-Hsin Mou; Chun-Hui Liao; Po-Hui Wang; Shwn-Huey Shieh

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.946029

Anxiety and depression risk in Taiwan women with breast cancer and cervical cancer

Front Oncol. 2022 Aug 19:12:946029. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.946029. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Chiu-Ming Yang^{1

2}, Fung-Chang Sung^{1

3

4}, Chih-Hsin Mou³, Chun-Hui Liao⁵, Po-Hui Wang⁶, Shwn-Huey Shieh^{1

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Services Administration, China Medical University College of Public Health, Taichung, Taiwan.
² Department of Public Health, China Medical University College of Public Health, Taichung, Taiwan.
³ Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Food Nutrition and Health Biotechnology, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, China Medical University College of Medicine, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁶ Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Nursing, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁸ Department of Nursing, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background: Studies comparing mental disorder risks between women with breast cancer and cervical cancer are lacking. This study compared risks of developing anxiety and depression between women with breast cancer (BC cohort) and women with cervical cancer (CC cohort) using insurance claims data of Taiwan.

Methods: From the 2000 to 2016 data, we identified a BC cohort and BC controls (N = 96,862) and a CC cohort and CC controls (N = 26,703), matched by propensity scores. Incident mental disorders and the Cox method estimated the related cancer cohort to control cohort hazard ratios (HRs), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by the end of 2016.

Results: Compared to the CC cohort, the BC cohort had slightly higher incident anxiety (15.9 versus 15.5 per 1,000 person-years) and depression (6.92 vs. 6.28 per 1,000 person-years). These mental disorders were higher in respective cancer cohorts than controls. The BC cohort to BC control adjusted HRs of anxiety and depression were 1.29 (95% CI = 1.25-1.33) and 1.78 (95% CI = 1.69-1.87), respectively. The corresponding adjusted HRs for the CC cohort were 1.12 (95% CI = 1.06-1.18) and 1.29 (95% CI = 1.18-1.41). The combined incidence rates of both disorders were 1.4-fold greater in the BC cohort than in BC controls (22.8 vs. 15.8 per 1,000 person-years), and 1.2-fold greater in the CC cohort than in the CC controls (21.7 vs. 18.3 per 1,000 person-years).

Conclusion: Women with breast cancer or cervical cancer are at an elevated likelihood of developing anxiety and depression disorders. These incident disorders are slightly higher in those with breast cancer.

Keywords: anxiety; breast cancer; cervical cancer; depression; retrospective cohort study.