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Psychiatric comorbidities among breast cancer survivors in South Korea: a nationwide population-based study

  • Epidemiology
  • Published:
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of mental disorders in breast cancer survivors using claims data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service in South Korea. We also analyzed patterns of mental disorders with respect to the time of diagnosis and age.

Materials and methods

We confirmed mental disorders in a nationwide cohort of 87,843 people who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and underwent surgery between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2014. We investigated the prevalence of mental disorders according to the time of diagnosis and age group. We also examined the utilization patterns of medical institutions and medical departments.

Result

From one year before a breast cancer diagnosis, 8430 patients were diagnosed with a mental disorder. Of those patients, 3256 were diagnosed with depression (38.6%) and 2739 with anxiety (32.5%). The overall frequency of mental disorders peaked within one month after the cancer diagnosis. The highest rate of increase after diagnosis was noted in stress reaction/adjustment disorders. Depression was relatively high in the young age group, and anxiety was high in the elderly group. In total, there were 59,111 claims for mental disorders. Over 70% (43,788) of claims for mental disorder treatment were from a psychiatry medical department.

Conclusion

Mental disorders in breast cancer survivors showed different patterns of prevalence according to time, age, and disease. Early intervention could be effective in controlling symptoms of mental disorder and could increase the quality of life for cancer survivors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, Ajou University School of Medicine, 206 Worldcup-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, 443-721, Republic of Korea

    Jaesung Heo, Mison Chun, Young-Taek Oh & O. Kyu Noh

  2. Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, Seoul, Korea

    Logyoung Kim

Authors
  1. Jaesung Heo
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  2. Mison Chun
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  3. Young-Taek Oh
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  4. O. Kyu Noh
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  5. Logyoung Kim
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Correspondence to Mison Chun.

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Heo, J., Chun, M., Oh, YT. et al. Psychiatric comorbidities among breast cancer survivors in South Korea: a nationwide population-based study. Breast Cancer Res Treat 162, 151–158 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-016-4097-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-016-4097-0

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