Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Practice Guideline
. 2023 Apr;8(2):101155.
doi: 10.1016/j.esmoop.2023.101155. Epub 2023 Mar 14.

Anxiety and depression in adult cancer patients: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline

L Grassi  1 , R Caruso  1 , M B Riba  2 , M Lloyd-Williams  3 , D Kissane  4 , G Rodin  5 , D McFarland  6 , R Campos-Ródenas  7 , R Zachariae  8 , D Santini  9 , C I Ripamonti  10 ; ESMO Guidelines Committee. Electronic address: clinicalguidelines@esmo.org
Affiliations
Practice Guideline

Anxiety and depression in adult cancer patients: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline

L Grassi et al. ESMO Open. 2023 Apr.

Abstract

  1. •

    Anxiety and depressive disorders are common in patients with cancer.

  2. •

    A higher prevalence seen in patients with cancer than the general population is often underrecognised.

  3. •

    Psychotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness-based therapies are effective treatments.

  4. •

    Psychopharmacological treatments have been shown to be effective treatments of anxiety and depressive disorders.

Keywords: anxiety; cancer; depression; oncology; psychiatry; psycho-oncology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Screening and management of anxiety symptoms/disorders. Purple: general categories or stratification; white: other aspects of management; turquoise: systemic therapy. AD, antidepressant; CBT, cognitive behavioural therapy; GAD, generalised anxiety disorder; MBT, mindfulness-based therapy; SNRI, serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor; SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. aAt diagnosis, treatment, conclusion of treatment, recurrence and when relevant. bAnxious mood (feeling tense, worried), rumination about recurrence is disabling, sleep disturbance, agitation, difficulty in concentration. cAs appropriate.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Screening and management of depressive symptoms. Purple: general categories or stratification; white: other aspects of management; turquoise: systemic therapy. ACT, acceptance and commitment therapy; AD, antidepressant; BDI-II, Beck Depression Inventory, second edition; CALM, Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully; CBSR, cognitive behavioural stress reduction; CBT, cognitive behavioural therapy; MBT, mindfulness-based therapy; PHQ-9, Patient Health Questionnaire-9; SNRI, serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor; SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. aAt diagnosis, treatment, conclusion of treatment, recurrence and when relevant. bDepressed mood (feeling down, depressed, helpless/hopeless); anhedonia (little interest or pleasure in doing things). cAs appropriate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Caruso R., Nanni M.G., Riba M.B., et al. The burden of psychosocial morbidity related to cancer: patient and family issues. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2017;29(5):389–402. - PubMed
    1. Wang X., Wang N., Zhong L., et al. Prognostic value of depression and anxiety on breast cancer recurrence and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 282,203 patients. Mol Psychiatry. 2020;25(12):3186–3197. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang Y.H., Li J.Q., Shi J.F., et al. Depression and anxiety in relation to cancer incidence and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies. Mol Psychiatry. 2020;25(7):1487–1499. - PubMed
    1. Caruso R., Nanni M.G., Riba M., et al. Depressive spectrum disorders in cancer: prevalence, risk factors and screening for depression: a critical review. Acta Oncol. 2017;56(2):146–155. - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization International Classification of Diseases 11th revision. https://icd.who.int/en Available at.

Publication types