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. 2022 Feb 25:14:225-237.
doi: 10.2147/CLEP.S336115. eCollection 2022.

Psychotropic Drug Use in Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) and Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS): A Danish Nationwide Matched Cohort Study of 2404 AML and 1307 MDS Patients

Oda Jensen  1 , Andreas Kiesbye Øvlisen  1   2 , Lasse Hjort Jakobsen  1   2 , Anne Stidsholt Roug  1   2 , René Ernst Nielsen  2   3 , Claus Werenberg Marcher  4 , Lene Hyldahl Ebbesen  5 , Kim Theilgaard-Mönch  6 , Peter Møller  7 , Claudia Schöllkopf  8 , Christian Torp-Pedersen  9   10 , Tarec Christoffer El-Galaly  1   2 , Marianne Tang Severinsen  1   2
Affiliations

Psychotropic Drug Use in Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) and Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS): A Danish Nationwide Matched Cohort Study of 2404 AML and 1307 MDS Patients

Oda Jensen et al. Clin Epidemiol. .

Abstract

Introduction: The diagnosis of a life-threatening disease can lead to depression and anxiety resulting in pharmacological treatment. However, use of psychotropic drugs (antidepressants, anxiolytics, and antipsychotics) in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is undetermined.

Methods: Prescription of psychotropic drugs in Danish AML and MDS patients was compared to a cohort matched on age, sex, and country of origin from the Danish background population using national population-based registries.

Results: In total, 2404 AML patients (median age 69 years) and 1307 MDS patients (median age 75 years) were included and each matched to five comparators from the background population. Two-year cumulative incidences showed that AML (20.6%) and MDS (21.2%) patients had a high risk of redemption of a psychotropic drug prescription compared to the background population (7.0% and 7.9%). High age, low educational level, and Charlson Comorbidity Index score ≥1 was associated with a higher risk in AML and MDS patients. Furthermore, non-curative treatment intent and performance status in AML patients, and high risk MDS were associated with elevated risk of psychotropic drug prescription.

Conclusion: In conclusion, diagnoses of AML and MDS were associated with a higher rate of psychotropic drugs prescription compared to the background population.

Keywords: acute myeloid leukaemia; anxiety; depression; myelodysplastic syndrome; psychotropic drugs.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr Andreas Kiesbye Øvlisen reports covered travel expenses from Pfizer and AbbVie, outside the submitted work. Dr Lasse Hjort Jakobsen reports personal fees from Takeda, outside the submitted work. Dr Christian Torp-Pedersen reports grants for randomised study from Bayer, grants for epidemiological study from Novo Nordisk, during the conduct of the study. Professor Tarec Christoffer El-Galaly was previously employed by Roche, outside the submitted work. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cumulative incidence curves of time to first prescription of psychotropic drugs (antidepressants, anxiolytics, and antipsychotics) for any psychotropic drug and stratified by type of psychotropic drug in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and the matched comparators. For all four cumulative incidence curves, Gray’s test demonstrated that the cumulative incidences of time to first psychotropic drug prescription were significantly higher (P<0.05) in both AML and MDS patients compared to the matched comparators.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cumulative incidence curves of time to second prescription of psychotropic drugs (antidepressants, anxiolytics, and antipsychotics) for any psychotropic drug and stratified by type of psychotropic drug in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and the matched comparators. For all four cumulative incidence curves Gray’s test demonstrated that the cumulative incidences of time to first psychotropic drug prescription were significantly higher (P<0.05) in both AML and MDS patients compared to the matched comparators.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Cumulative incidence curves of time to first prescription from 2 years prior to 2 years after diagnosis of psychotropic drugs (antidepressants, anxiolytics, and antipsychotics) for any psychotropic drug in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and the matched comparators.
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