Global Prevalence of Mental Health Problems Among Cancer Survivors: A Meta-Analysis From 31 Countries
Meng-Wei Ge
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorJun Sheng
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Nantong Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nantong University Affiliated Hospital, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorLu-Ting Shen
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorFei-Hong Hu
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorYi-Jie Jia
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorAttiq Ur-Rehman
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Gulfreen Nursing College Avicenna Hospital Bedian, Lahore, Pakistan
Search for more papers by this authorWei Li
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorJian-Zeng Lan
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Peng Liu
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Correspondence: Peng Liu
([email protected]) and
Hong-Lin Chen
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Hong-Lin Chen
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Correspondence: Peng Liu
([email protected]) and
Hong-Lin Chen
Search for more papers by this authorMeng-Wei Ge
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorJun Sheng
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Nantong Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nantong University Affiliated Hospital, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorLu-Ting Shen
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorFei-Hong Hu
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorYi-Jie Jia
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorAttiq Ur-Rehman
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Gulfreen Nursing College Avicenna Hospital Bedian, Lahore, Pakistan
Search for more papers by this authorWei Li
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorJian-Zeng Lan
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Peng Liu
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Correspondence: Peng Liu
([email protected]) and
Hong-Lin Chen
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Hong-Lin Chen
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Correspondence: Peng Liu
([email protected]) and
Hong-Lin Chen
Search for more papers by this authorFunding: This work was supported by Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. KYCX24_3591) and the Humanities and Social Sciences of Ministry of Education Planning Fund (Grant No. 20YJAZH007).
Meng-Wei Ge is the first author and Jun Sheng is the co-first author.
ABSTRACT
Background
With the improvement of medical treatment, the survival rate of cancer patients continues to rise; however, their psychological issues require further management. Currently, there is uncertainty regarding the prevalence of mental health problems among cancer survivors.
Objective
To quantitatively summarize the global prevalence of mental health problems in cancer survivors.
Methods
We searched CINAHL, PsychlNFO, Embase, Web of Science, and PubMed for studies reporting the prevalence of various mental health problems in cancer survivors who have survived at least 3 months. Subsequently, stratified analyses were conducted based on study design, region, cancer system, and time since diagnosis. Moreover, meta-regression was utilized to investigate sources of heterogeneity. We used Rstudio software 4.3.0, Stata 17.0 software and metaprop package.
Results
A total of 147 studies involving 135,015 cancer survivors from over 30 countries were identified, primarily focusing on six mental health problems. Among 78 studies addressing anxiety, the prevalence was 24.4% (95% CI: 20.2%–28.8%). Among the 96 studies on depression, the prevalence was 23.7% (95% CI: 20.1%–27.4%). In the case of sleep disorders, 42 studies reported a prevalence of 34.1% (95% CI: 27.9%–40.6%). The overall prevalence decreased over time since diagnosis. Most of the analyzed data exhibited significant heterogeneity (I2 > 75%).
Conclusion
The analysis indicated that cancer survivors experience a diverse range of mental health problems, which were prevalent among them. The results emphasized the importance of recognizing and treating mental health problems in cancer survivors and served as a reminder for healthcare workers to address mental health problems in this population. The registration number was CRD42023466209.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Open Research
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Supporting Information
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| pon70077-sup-0001-suppl-data.docx1.8 MB | Supporting Information S1 |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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