Antidepressants in the treatment of depression/depressive symptoms in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Over the past thirty years a number of studies have suggested that antidepressants can be effective in the treatment of depressive symptoms in patients with cancer. The aim of this paper was to review randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and to perform a meta-analysis in order to quantify their overa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMC psychiatry 2013-05, Vol.13 (1), p.140-140, Article 140
Main Authors: Laoutidis, Zacharias G, Mathiak, Klaus
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antidepressants
Antidepressive Agents - therapeutic use
Bias
Cancer
Cancer patients
Depression - complications
Depression - drug therapy
Depression - psychology
Depression, Mental
Depressive Disorder - complications
Depressive Disorder - drug therapy
Depressive Disorder - psychology
Disease
Dosage and administration
Drug therapy
Fatigue
Humans
Illnesses
Mental depression
Meta-analysis
Mortality
Neoplasms - complications
Neoplasms - psychology
Oncology, Experimental
Palliative care
Patient education
Psychiatry
Psychological aspects
Quality of life
Risk factors
Social research
Studies
Systematic review
Treatment Outcome
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Summary:Over the past thirty years a number of studies have suggested that antidepressants can be effective in the treatment of depressive symptoms in patients with cancer. The aim of this paper was to review randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and to perform a meta-analysis in order to quantify their overall effect. Pubmed and the Cochrane libraries were searched for the time period between 1980 and 2010. Nine RCTs were identified and reviewed. Six of them (with a total of 563 patients) fulfilled the criteria for meta-analysis, but exhibited an unclear risk for bias. The estimated effect size was 1.56 with 95% CI: 1.07- 2.28 (p= 0.021). There were no differences in discontinuation rates between antidepressants and placebo groups (RR= 0.86 with 95% CI 0.47- 1.56, p=0.62). This meta-analysis suggests that antidepressants can be effective in treating depressive symptoms beside clinical depression. When considering the risk of side effects and interactions and the heterogeneity among the mostly small studies, a general recommendation cannot be made until well-controlled studies are conducted.
ISSN:1471-244X
1471-244X
DOI:10.1186/1471-244X-13-140