Prediagnosis Depression Rather Than Anxiety Symptoms Is Associated with Decreased Ovarian Cancer Survival: Findings from the Ovarian Cancer Follow-Up Study (OOPS)

Background: The relationship between prediagnosis depression, anxiety symptoms, and ovarian cancer (OC) survival is unknown. We aimed to explore these associations to provide further epidemiological evidence. Methods: We investigated the relationship between prediagnosis depression, anxiety symptoms, and OC survival in a prospective cohort study of newly diagnosed OC patients aged 18-79 years. Depression and anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 at diagnosis, respectively. Deaths were ascertained until 31 March 2021 via medical records and active follow-up. Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) with prediagnosis depression and anxiety symptoms and all-cause mortality of OC. Results: We found 56 (9.4%) and 235 (39.3%) OC patients with depression and anxiety symptoms, respectively. During a median follow-up of 37.2 months (interquartile range 24.7-50.2 months), 130 deaths were confirmed. Compared with non-depression symptoms, patients with prediagnosis depressive symptoms showed a significantly increased risk of OC mortality (HR = 2.10, 95% CI: 1.20-3.70). Of note, the association was still robust when focusing on the OC patients with severe depressive symptoms (HR = 2.10, 95% CI: 1.07-4.12). However, we observed no association between prediagnosis anxiety symptoms of different severity and OC mortality. Interestingly, OC patients with combined moderate depression and anxiety symptoms had a significantly increased risk of OC mortality (HR = 3.23, 95% CI: 1.14-9.11) compared to those with no symptoms of depression and anxiety. Notably, Wilms's tumor 1 was significantly associated with depression and anxiety symptoms (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Prediagnosis depression increases the risk of OC mortality. Large multicenter studies are required to confirm this finding.