ArticlePsychiatry and clinical neurosciences2025
Depression, antidepressant use, and breast cancer incidence: results from the E3N prospective cohort.
Article in Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimDepression and antidepressant drugs may both impact breast cancer incidence, potentially in opposite directions. The few epidemiological studies attempting to disentangle their effects have been inconclusive. We aimed to assess within the same prospective cohort the association between depression, antidepressant use, and breast cancer risk, while controlling for potential confounders.
methodsThe study population included 47,791 women from the E3N (Etude Epidémiologique Auprès de Femmes de la Mutuelle Générale de l'Education Nationale) prospective cohort, born between 1925 and 1950 and followed for breast cancer incidence from 2005 to 2014. Depression was defined by a Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) score ≥17. Exposure to antidepressants was identified from drug claims data available from 2004 onwards. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for invasive breast cancer were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for breast cancer risk factors. Antidepressant exposure was time-varying.
resultsDuring a mean follow-up of 7.2 years, 1365 breast cancers occurred. Depression was associated with a higher incidence of breast cancer (HR, 1.14 [95% CI, 1.01-1.29]), while exposure to antidepressants was associated with a lower risk (HR, 0.85 [95% CI, 0.74-0.98]). No association was observed for treatment durations <6 months (HR, 1.02 [95% CI, 0.79-1.32]), while antidepressant use for at least 24 months was associated with an HR of 0.80 (95% CI, 0.64-0.99).
conclusionThese findings from a prospective cohort suggest that depression and antidepressant drugs exert opposing effects on breast cancer incidence. While these results require replication in future studies, they could help promote adherence to antidepressant drugs in women with depression.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.