Depressive Symptom Profiles and Survival in Older Patients with Cancer: Latent Class Analysis of the ELCAPA Cohort Study

Abstract

Older patients with cancer present with distinct profiles of depressive symptomatology, including different severity levels of depression and the demoralization syndrome. Clinicians should use a systematic assessment of depressive symptoms to adequately highlight these distinct profiles. Geriatric and oncological features are differently associated with these profiles. For instance, severe depression was associated with more frequent comorbidities with poorer functional, poor nutritional status, polypharmacy, frequent falls, inpatient status and poor social support. Also, severe depression was independently and substantially associated with poor survival so that the identification and management of depression should be considered a high priority in this population.