title: Antidepressants in the treatment of depression/depressive symptoms in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  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.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pubmed and the Cochrane libraries were searched for the time period between 1980 and 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  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).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH, University of Aachen, Bergische Landstrasse 2, 40629 Düsseldorf, Germany. Zacharias.Laoutidis@lvr.de
authors.forename: Zacharias G
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Laoutidis
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mathiak
mesh_terms: D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents