Abstract
The association between the presence of depressive symptoms and cancer incidence and mortality and mortality from noncancer causes was studied in a population-based cohort of 6848 persons free of cancer who were followed from 1965 to 1982 as part of the Alameda County study. Age-adjusted and multivariate analyses involving over 111,000 person-years of follow-up demonstrated an association between high levels of depressive symptoms at baseline and deaths from noncancer causes but no association with either cancer incidence or cancer mortality. Our analyses suggest the possibility that the presence of previously diagnosed cases of cancer and the inclusion of items which tap somatic problems in depression scales may contribute to differences between these results and others in which depression has been linked to cancer mortality.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M.,et al. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression.Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 4: 561–571.
Berkman, L. F., and Breslow, L. (1983).Health and Ways of Living: The Alameda County Study, Oxford University Press, New York.
Bloom, J. R., and Ross, R. D. (1982). Measurement of the psychosocial aspects of cancer: Sources of bias. In Cohen, J., Cullen, J. W., and Martin, L. R. (eds.),Psychosocial Aspects of Cancer, Raven, New York, pp. 255–274.
Bukberg, J., Penman, D., and Holland, J. C. (1984). Depression in hospitalized cancer patients.Psychosom. Med. 46: 199–212.
Cox, D. R. (1970).Analysis of Binary Data, Chapman and Hall, London.
Cox, D. R. (1972). Regression models and life tables (with discussion).J. Res. Stat. Soc. Ser. B 34: 187–220.
Craig, T. J., and Abeloff, M. D. (1974). Psychiatric symptomatology among hospitalized cancer patients.Am. J. Psychiat. 131: 1323–1327.
Dattore, P. J. (1978).Premorbid Personality Characteristics Associated with Neoplasms: An Archival Approach, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Kansas, Lawrence.
Dattore, P. J., Shontz, F. C., and Coyne, L. (1980). Premorbid personality differentiation of cancer and noncancer groups: A test of the hypothesis of cancer proneness.J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 48: 388–394.
Fox, B. H. (1978). Premorbid psychological factors as related to cancer incidence.J. Behav. Med. 1: 45–133.
Fox, B. H. (1982). A psychological measure as a predictor in cancer. In Cohen, J., Cullen, J. W., and Martin, L. R. (eds.),Psychosocial Aspects of Cancer, Raven, New York, pp. 275–295.
Frerichs, R. R., Aneshaensel, C. S., Yokopenic, P. A.,et al. (1982). Physical health and depression: An epidemiologic survey.Prev. Med. 11: 639–646.
Greer, S., and Morris, T. (1978). The study of psychological factors in breast cancer: Problems of method.Soc. Sci. Med. 12: 129–134.
Kaplan, G. A. (1985). Psychosocial aspects of chronic illness: Direct and indirect associations with ischemie heart disease mortality. In Kaplan, R. M., and Criqui, M. H. (eds.),Behavioral Epidemiology and Disease Prevention, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 237–269.
Kaplan, G. A., Roberts, R. E., Camacho, T. C., and Coyne, J. C. (1987). Psychosocial predictors of depression: Prospective evidence from the Human Population Laboratory studies.Am. J. Epidemiol. 125: 206–220.
Keehn, R. J., Goldberg, I. D., and Beebe, G. W. (1974). Twenty-four-year mortality follow-up of army veterans with disability separations for psychoneuroses in 1944.Psychosom. Med. 36: 27–46.
Kerr, T. A., Schapira, K., and Roth, M. (1969). The relationship between premature death and affective disorders.Br. J. Psychiat. 115: 1277–1282.
Kleinbaum, D. G., Kupper, L. L., and Morgenstern, H. (1982).Epidemiologic Research: Principles and Quantitative Methods, Lifetime Learning, Belmont, CA.
Kowal, S. J. (1955). Emotions as a cause of cancer.Psychoanal. Rev. 42: 217–227.
Link, B., and Dohrenwend, B. P. (1980). Formulation of hypotheses about the true prevalence of demoralization in the United States. In Dohrenwend, B. P., Dohrenwend, B. S., Gould, M. S.,et al. (eds.),Mental Illness in the United States: Epidemiological Estimates, Praeger, New York.
Morrison, F. R., and Paffenbarger, R. A. (1981). Epidemiological aspects of biobehavior in the etiology of cancer: A critical review. In Weiss, S. M., Herd, J. A., and Fox, B. H. (eds.),Perspectives on Behavioral Medicine, Academic Press, New York, pp. 135–161.
Murrell, S. A., Himmelf irb, S., and Wright, K. (1983). Prevalence of depression and its correlates in older ai ults.Am. J. Epidemiol. 117: 173–185.
Niemi, T., and Jaaskelaien, J. (1978). Cancer morbidity in depressive persons.J. Psychosom. Res. 22: 117–120.
Nunnally, J. C. (1978).Psychometric Theory, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Plumb, M. M., and Holland, J. (1977). Comparative studies of psychological function in patients with advanced cancer. I. Self-reported depressive symptoms.Psychosom. Med. 39: 264–276.
Resource for Cancer Epidemiology, California Department of Health Services (1980).Uterine Cancer Incidence: San Francisco Bay Area, 1960–1975, Resource for Cancer Epidemiology, Berkeley, CA.
Roberts, R. E. (1981). Prevalence of depressive symptoms among Mexican Americans.J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 169: 213–219.
Roberts, R. E., and O'Keefe, S. J. (1981). Sex differences in depression reexamined.J. Health Soc. Behav. 22: 394–400.
Roberts, R. E., and Roberts, C. R. (1982). Marriage, work and depressive symptoms among Mexican Americans.Hisp. J. Behav. Sci. 4: 199–221.
Roberts, R. E., Stevenson, J. M., and Breslow, L. (1981). Symptoms of depression among blacks and whites in an urban community.J. Nerv. Ment Dis. 12: 774–779.
Shekelle, R. B., Raynor, W. J., Jr., Ostfield, A. M.,et al. (1981). Psychological depression and 17-year risk of death from cancer.Psychosom. Med. 43: 117–125.
Surawicz, F. G., Brightwell, D. R., Weitzel, W. D.,et al. (1976). Cancer emotions and mental illness: The present state of understanding.Am. J. Psychiat. 113: 1306–1309.
Watson, C. G., and Schuld, D. (1974). Psychosomatic factors in the etiology of neoplasms.J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 45: 455–461.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This investigation was supported by PHS Grant CA37449, awarded by the National Cancer Institute, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kaplan, G.A., Reynolds, P. Depression and cancer mortality and morbidity: Prospective evidence from the Alameda County study. J Behav Med 11, 1–13 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00846165
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00846165