Abstract
To investigate the influence of offspring-related characteristics on the prevalence of depressive disorders among cancer patients and those who survived cancer for at least 45 years. Data were obtained from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA). To investigate the association between offspring and depressive disorder among cancer patients and survivors, we analyzed data from 292 cancer patients and survivors drawn from a total subject pool of 16,613 individuals at baseline. According to our results, the odds ratio (OR) for subjects with five or more offspring developing depressive disorder was -0.794 (p-value: 0.039, SE: 0.329) compared with that of those with two offspring. In addition, the adjusted effect of the number of male and female offspring on the presence of depressive disorder showed that the OR for those with three or more female offspring for developing depressive disorder was -0.958 lower (SE: 0.305, p-value: 0.012) than it was for those with no female offspring. This article provides evidence for an association between offspring-related characteristics and depressive disorders among cancer patients and survivors. Therefore, offspring may be important contributors to the emotional status of cancer patients and survivors. Further study should precisely need to measure depressive disorders because of self-reported data.
Highlights
Our results show that the estimate was -0.958 lower (SE: 0.305, p-value: 0.012) than for those with zero female offspring
Our main results indicated that parents suffering from, or with a history of, cancer who have more offspring are less likely than those with no offspring to develop a depressive disorder
Such parents with three or more female offspring were less likely to suffer from a depressive disorder than were such parents with no female offspring
Summary
During the past 20 years, the number of cancer survivors has increased, primarily due to improvements in detection and treatment based on technological advances such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy (Maddams et al, 2009).Because of these changes in treatment techniques and epidemiology, patients with cancer are surviving for a longer time, which has left more time for psychosocial sequelae, including those involving preexisting psychosocial problems, to develop.Depression is the most prevalent psychosocial problem experienced by cancer patients (Maneeton et al, 2012; Chen et al, 2013), and it is the most common reason for an oncologist to refer a patient to a mental health professional (Katz et al, 2004; Nazlican et al, 2012). During the past 20 years, the number of cancer survivors has increased, primarily due to improvements in detection and treatment based on technological advances such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy (Maddams et al, 2009). Because of these changes in treatment techniques and epidemiology, patients with cancer are surviving for a longer time, which has left more time for psychosocial sequelae, including those involving preexisting psychosocial problems, to develop. Offspring can provide care as well as social support, and a greater number of offspring may prevent loneliness in old age. Offspring express gratitude and provide parents with an experience of the meaning of life, which may positively affect mental health (Evenson and Simon, 2005)
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