Cancer survivors often live with post-traumatic stress disorder

Cancer patients may often experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the months after their tumors are diagnosed, and mental health issues can sometimes linger for years, a Malaysian study suggests.

Six months after diagnosis, 22 per cent of cancer patients reported symptoms of PTSD in clinical evaluations, researchers report online November 20 in Cancer. After four years, about six per cent of patients had PTSD.

Although overall rates of PTSD decreased over time, one-third of patients initially diagnosed with the mental health disorder had persistent or worsening symptoms four years later, reports Fox News.

"PTSD can affect anyone who has witnessed or experienced a serious threat of violence or death," said lead study author Caryn Mei Hsien Chan of the National University of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

"While PTSD is more often associated with traumatic events such as violent physical and sexual attacks, serious accidents and natural disasters, this includes being diagnosed with cancer, the experience of undergoing cancer treatment and surviving cancer," Chan said by email. "Even if they do not have full-blown PTSD most cancer patients experience some symptoms of it."

For the study, researchers followed 469 patients at one cancer center in Malaysia who had psychological evaluations at various points after their diagnosis. A total of 210 patients died during the four-year study.

Six months after their cancer diagnosis, 27 of 203 patients, or 13.3 per cent, met the full criteria for newly developed PTSD, and another 17 people, or 8.4 per cent, had several symptoms of PTSD.

Taken together, these two groups show more than one in five patients with serious PTSD symptoms at six months.

At the four-year mark, 10 of 245 patients, or 4.1 per cent, had full PTSD and another five patients had several serious symptoms. Combined, this translates into serious PTSD symptoms affecting about six per cent of patients.

Among the 27 people with PTSD after six months, six had full-blown PTSD after four years and another two had serious symptoms.

Results for breast cancer patients in the study suggest that counseling may help avert or ease the severity of PTSD.

At six months, compared with other cancer patients, people with breast cancer were more than three times less likely to have developed PTSD. In this early postoperative period, breast cancer patients were most likely receiving counseling to help them cope with their diagnosis and treatment.