People who struggle with anxiety and depression smoke more often. And smoking increases the risk of lung cancer. APH researcher Femke Lamers, associate professor Amsterdam UMC: “Smoking explains why people with depression and anxiety have a slightly higher risk of lung cancer.”
On the 29th of April the findings of this study are published in Psychological Medicine.
Previous research at Amsterdam UMC in 2023 showed people don’t get cancer from having a negative mental state. This study revealed that people with depression and anxiety have an increased risk of lung cancer. The researchers wanted to know why.
Lamers leads a large international consortium investigating this question. She explains, “Many patients with cancer who also struggle with depression or anxiety feel that their mental state has increased the risk of cancer. Because of the 2023 study, we know this is not the case. Yet we saw an increased risk of lung cancer in the group with depression and anxiety. Our recent research shows that this exception is well explained by the fact that these people smoke cigarettes more often than others. This leads to a slightly higher risk of lung cancer.”
Healthy lifestyle
A healthy lifestyle is important for everyone. Exercise, healthy eating, not too much alcohol and no smoking. “Also those people with depression and anxiety symptoms would benefit from living a healthy lifestyle. But we also understand that this is not so easy for everyone,” Lamers said.
Psychosocial factors and cancer incidence
This international study Psychosocial factors and cancer incidence (PSY-CA) used data from nearly 320,000 people from 18 large databases in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Canada. In the Netherlands, Amsterdam UMC, UMC Groningen, Utrecht UMC, Erasmus MC, Maastricht University, RIVM, and Nederlands Kanker Instituut were involved. This project, funded by KWF Kankerbestrijding, is larger and better designed than previous research on this topic.
Source: Amsterdam UMC / psychiatryamsterdam.nl