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Treating depression in cancer hugely increases quality of life, but probably not length of life

Research

Professor Michael Sharpe (Department of Psychiatry) and colleagues identify that treating depression doesn’t make cancer patients live longer, but it does make lives immeasurably better

A follow up study led by Professor Michael Sharpe at the University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry – ‘Does depression treatment improve the survival of depressed patients with cancer? A long-term follow-up of participants in the SMaRT Oncology-2 and 3 trials’ – has been published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

It reveals that contrary to the findings of previous small studies, treating depression in cancer patients does not increase the length of life of people with cancer. However the previous publications from these trials found that the benefits to patients’ quality of life are clear and significant.

Find out more (Department of Psychiatry website)

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