Prevalence of unipolar major depression in prostate cancer patients undergoing androgen deprivation therapy: The impact of age, treatment duration and prostate cancer stage.

[INTRODUCTION] Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy among men. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a common treatment for prostate cancer, may contribute to an increased risk for depression. This study examines the prevalence of unipolar major depression in patients undergoing ADT and potential risk factors.

[METHOD] A cross-sectional study was conducted among prostate cancer patients receiving ADT (n = 217). The presence of depression was screened with the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology Self Report (IDS-SR). Patients with IDS-SR scores above the cutoff point were invited for a semi-structured clinical interview to diagnose depression. For non-interviewed patients the individual items of the IDS-SR were analyzed to assess whether core criteria of the DSM-5 were present. Multivariable analyses were performed to evaluate the association between the risk factors (age, ADT duration and prostate cancer stage) and the IDS-SR score as well as the presence of depression.

[RESULTS] Of all patients, 35 % scored above the cutoff point of the IDS-SR and 8.3 % were diagnosed with major depression. Furthermore, among the included patients, age, ADT duration and prostate cancer stage were not significantly associated with the IDS-SR score, neither with the presence of depression.

[CONCLUSION] The 8.3 % prevalence of unipolar major depression highlights the importance of being vigilant about a comorbid depression in prostate cancer patients undergoing ADT. However, due to a lack of power, we were unable to identify specific risk factors within this patient group.