<![CDATA[How Do Mental Health Disorders Impact All-Cause Cancer Mortality?]]>

Summary: Getting a cancer diagnosis is incredibly stressful, but a new study shows just how much that stress affects physical survival. Researchers looked at over 370,000 cancer patients and found that about 1 in 10 (10.6%) developed a new mental health issue—like anxiety or depression—within the first year.

Sadly, getting a mental health disorder early on makes the physical fight much harder. In the first one to three years, these patients had a 51% higher risk of dying. The risk was even higher for those who needed new mental health medications. The good news? This danger drops over time, almost completely disappearing after five years. Doctors say this proves we need to treat the mind just as much as the body when fighting cancer!

Source: cancernetwork URL: cancernetwork.com/view/how-do-mental-health-disorders-impact-all-cause-cancer-mortality- (opens in new tab)