Experts predict cancer cases in the U.S. will continue to rise in the coming decades. According to research published in 2021 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cancer prevalence rates are estimated to increase by nearly 50% by 2050. But it’s not just the body that’s affected. A 2020 study published in Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences notes that an estimated 30% to 35% of cancer patients are affected by a psychiatric disorder throughout the duration of the disease. In addition, research now shows the degree to which spouses of patients with cancer are also susceptible to the development of psychiatric disorders.
Across Denmark and Sweden, researchers from a new study published in JAMA Network Open compared more than 546,000 spouses of patients with cancer and over 2 million participants who did not have a spouse with cancer to assess the risk level of first-onset psychiatric disorders between the two groups. Danish patients with cancer were diagnosed between 1986 and 2016, while Swedish patients with cancer were diagnosed between 1973 and 2014. The research analysis was conducted between May 2021 and January 2022.
Spouses of patients with cancer may be more prone to psychiatric disorders
As per the study, those who did not have a spouse with cancer (the unexposed group) were followed up with over the course of roughly seven and a half years. Those who did have a spouse with cancer (the exposed group) were followed up with over a roughly eight and a half year period. Findings showed that over 30,800 individuals in the exposed group were found to have developed first-onset psychiatric disorders during the follow-up period, compared to 153,607 individuals in the group who did not have a spouse with cancer. In particular, men, participants with a lower household income, and those between the ages of 40 and 59 or 60 to 79, were found to be at an increased risk for first-time diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder following a spouse’s cancer diagnosis. More specifically, the risk of a first-time psychiatric diagnosis was 30% higher within the first year following a spouse’s cancer diagnosis.
Compared to the unexposed group, additional statistical analysis also revealed that spouses of patients with cancer who had a pre-existing psychiatric disorder were more likely to need psychiatric-related hospital care, particularly during the first year. As a result of their findings, the researchers emphasized the need for physician mental health care practices to extend beyond the individual with cancer to also include their spouses.
