Increased incidence of affective disorders, anxiety disorders, and non-natural mortality in women after breast cancer diagnosis: a nation-wide cohort study in Denmark.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether breast cancer patients have increased incidence of psychiatric admission with affective disorders, anxiety disorders, or non-natural mortality compared with the general female population.


METHODS
Register-linkage between nation-wide registries: The Danish Psychiatric Central Register, The Danish Cancer Registry, and The Danish National Register of Causes of Death. A total of 61 709 women registered with primary invasive breast cancer between 1970 and 1993 were included and 356 023 person-years were accrued.


RESULTS
The standardized incidence ratio of first-ever psychiatric admission with affective disorder was 1.49 (95% CI: 1.35-1.63) and with anxiety disorder 1.25 (95% CI: 1.06-1.46). The standardized non-natural mortality ratio during the first year after breast cancer diagnosis was 1.54 (95% CI: 1.27-1.87). All analyses were adjusted for age, calendar period, and place of residence.


CONCLUSIONS
Breast cancer patients have significantly increased incidence of psychiatric admission with affective disorders, anxiety disorders, and non-natural mortality.
Hjerl
K
K
Department of Psychiatry, Rigshospitalet University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Andersen
E W
EW
Keiding
N
N
Mortensen
P B
PB
Jørgensen
T
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*