title: Prescriptions of Antidepressants to Survivors of Cancer in Childhood, Adolescence, and Young Adulthood: A Population-Based Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Survivors of cancer may experience higher rates of psychological problems requiring pharmacological interventions than age-matched controls from the general population. This study compares prescription rates of antidepressants in survivors of cancer, diagnosed in childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood, to the rate in age- and gender-matched controls from the Norwegian population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Antidepressants prescribed to 5341 cancer survivors, diagnosed ≤25 years during 1965-2000, were studied in a population-based cohort by linking data from the following nationwide registries: the Population Registry of Norway, the Cancer Registry of Norway, and the Norwegian Prescription Database. For each survivor, three age- and gender-matched controls were randomly selected from the population. A Cox proportional hazard model was applied to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) of antidepressant prescriptions during 2004-2012 to the survivors with controls as referents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Survivors had an increased risk of being prescribed antidepressants with crude rates of 26.9/1000 person-years compared with 22.5/1000 person-years in controls (HR 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12-1.28). The relative risk was highest for survivors of central nervous system tumors (HR 1.30; 95% CI 1.04-1.63), leukemias (HR 1.29; 95% CI 1.03-1.63), testicular tumors (HR 1.27; 95% CI 1.04-1.55), and "other tumors" (HR 1.42; 95% CI 1.10-1.84). No effect of age at cancer diagnosis was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Certain groups of survivors of cancer in childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood have a slightly increased risk for being prescribed antidepressants than their peers. The results may indicate an increased prevalence of depression among these survivors, but diagnostic reasons for prescriptions need to be confirmed in clinical studies.
authors.affiliation: 1 National Advisory Unit on Late Effects After Cancer Treatment, Oslo University Hospital , Oslo, Norway .|2 Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Oslo University Hospital , Oslo, Norway .
authors.forename: Inga Maria
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Johannsdottir
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Pharmacoepidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health , Oslo, Norway .
authors.forename: Øystein
authors.initials: Ø
authors.lastname: Karlstad
authors.affiliation: 4 Department of Behavioral Sciences in Medicine, University of Oslo , Oslo, Norway .|5 Regional Advisory Unit for Palliative Care, Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital , Oslo, Norway .
authors.forename: Jon H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Loge
authors.affiliation: 1 National Advisory Unit on Late Effects After Cancer Treatment, Oslo University Hospital , Oslo, Norway .
authors.forename: Sophie D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Fosså
authors.affiliation: 1 National Advisory Unit on Late Effects After Cancer Treatment, Oslo University Hospital , Oslo, Norway .
authors.forename: Cecilie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kiserud
authors.affiliation: 6 Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health , Oslo, Norway .|7 Norwegian Centre for Addiction Research, University of Oslo , Oslo, Norway .
authors.forename: Svetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Skurtveit
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000073116:Cancer Survivors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents
keywords: antidepressants; late effects; mental health; population based; survivorship