Impact of Psychiatric Illness on Decreased Survival in Elderly Patients with Bladder Cancer in the United States

Treatments for muscle-invasive bladder cancer are multimodal, complex, and often carry significant risks of physical and psychological morbidity. The objectives of this study were to define the incidence and types of psychiatric illnesses diagnosed after treatment and to determine their impact on survival outcomes.

In total, 3709 patients who were diagnosed with clinical stage T2 through T4a bladder cancer from January 1, 2002, to December 31, 2011, from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare were analyzed. Multivariable analysis and Cox proportional-hazards models were used to determine the predictors associated with psychiatric diagnosis and impact on survival outcomes.

Of 3709 patients, 1870 (50.4%) were diagnosed with posttreatment psychiatric disorders. Patients who underwent radical cystectomy were identified as being at significantly greater risk of having a posttreatment psychiatric illness compared with those who received radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy (hazard ratio [HR], 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07-1.31; P = .001). In adjusted analyses, diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder resulted in significantly worse overall survival (HR, 2.80; 95% CI, 2.47-3.17; P < .001) and cancer-specific survival (HR, 2.39; 95% CI, 2.05-2.78; P < .001).

One-half of patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who underwent treatment were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, which resulted in worse survival outcomes compared with patients who did not have a posttreatment psychiatric diagnosis. This information can be used to inform interventions to educate patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer regarding the impact of different treatments on mental health. Cancer 2018. © 2018 American Cancer Society.


Authors: 
Usama Jazzar BS1, Shan Yong PhD1,  Zachary Klaassen MD, MS2,  Jinhai Huo PhD3,  Byron D. Hughes MD, MPH4, Edgar Esparza BS4, Hemalkumar B. Mehta PhD4,  Simon P. Kim MD, MPH5,6,   Douglas S. Tyler MD4,  Stephen J. Freedland MD7,  Ashish M. Kamat MD8,  Dwight V. Wolf MD9,  Stephen B. Williams MD1

1. Division of Urology, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, Texas.
2. Department of Surgery, Section of Urology, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, Georgia.
3. Department of Health Services Research, Management and Policy, The University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
4. Department of Surgery, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, Texas.
5. Urology Institute, Center for Health Care Quality and Outcomes, University Hospitals Case Western Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
6. Cancer Outcomes and Public Policy Effectiveness Research Center, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
7. Department of Urology, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.
8. Department of Urology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
9. Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, Texas.

Cancer. 2018 Apr 16. doi: 10.1002/cncr.31404. [Epub ahead of print]

Watch Stephen Williams and Ashish Kamat discuss “Helping Patients Cope after Major Interventions for Bladder Cancer Therapy”

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