Impact of pre-existing depression, anxiety, or both on survival among older patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Mental health disorders can potentially decrease quality of life and survival in patients with cancer. Analysis of data in the SEER database evaluated the effect of pre-existing depression, anxiety, or both on survival of patients aged 67 years or older with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Five-year overall survival rates were 27.0% among DLBCL patients with these mental health disorders versus 37.4% among patients without mental health disorders (HR 1.37; 95% CI 1.29-1.44). Patients with depression alone had the worst survival, followed by patients with depression and anxiety, and then anxiety alone. Individuals with these pre-existing health disorders also had lower lymphoma-specific survival.