The prognostic impact of depression or depressive symptoms on patients with head and neck cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background This systematic review and meta-analysis sought to assess the extent to which pretreatment depression or depressive symptoms are related to prognosis in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). Methods Medline, EMbase, Scopus, and The Cochrane Library databases were searched. A meta-analysis was done to generate a forest plot and pooled hazard ratio (HR) with 95% CI for overall survival (OS). RevMan 5.3 and Meta Essentials were used for statistical analysis. Results Based on seven studies involving 1743 patients, the results showed that HNC patients with pretreatment depression or depressive symptoms had worse OS than patients without depression or depressive symptoms, with an HR of 1.33, 95% CI 1.16-1.52, p = <0.0001. There is heterogeneity in the pooled summary effect (I-2 = 80%, p < 0.0001). Conclusions Pretreatment depression or depressive symptoms may indicate worse OS in patients with HNC. The pooled analysis demonstrated a statistically significant effect. These results were limited by mild heterogeneity.

Automated summary

This systematic review and meta-analysis found that pretreatment depression or depressive symptoms may indicate worse overall survival in patients with head and neck cancer. The pooled analysis demonstrated a statistically significant effect, although the results were limited by mild heterogeneity.