ArticlePsycho-oncology2025
The Impact of Antidepressants on Surgical Outcomes Among Patients With Abdominal Cancer and Comorbid Depression.
Article in Psycho-oncology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Impact of Depression on Mortality in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer: A Systematic Review.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2025Pooled it
- Intraoperative esketamine for postoperative analgesia and depression in pancreatic cancer surgery: protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial.Annals of medicine · 2026Article
- Impact of preoperative depression severity and antidepressant medication use on perioperative outcomes and long-term weight loss following primary bariatric surgery.Surgical endoscopy · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveDepression is commonly linked to cancer and may negatively impact patient outcomes; however, the influence of antidepressants on surgical outcomes remains unclear. We sought to evaluate the role of antidepressants among patients with gastrointestinal cancer and comorbid depression undergoing surgical resection.
methodsPatients diagnosed with hepatobiliary, pancreatic, and colorectal cancers (2008-2019) were identified within SEER-Medicare. Comorbid depression, within 12 months before or after a cancer diagnosis, and antidepressant prescriptions were assessed. An "ideal" postoperative textbook outcome required no complications, prolonged stay, 90-day readmission, or 90-day mortality. Hospitalization and post-discharge expenditures were also assessed.
resultsAmong 32,726 cancer patients (hepatobiliary: 2313, 7%; pancreatic: 2583, 8%; colorectal: 27,830, 85%), 1731 (5.3%) had documented depression (478 treated vs. 1253 untreated with antidepressant medications). Patients were more likely to receive treatment for depression if they were female (treated: 71% vs. untreated: 68%), White (treated: 88% vs. untreated: 80%), and had lower comorbidity burden (treated: 65% vs. untreated: 54%) (all p < 0.001). Patients with depression, both treated and untreated, had worse postoperative outcomes. Preoperative treatment with antidepressants decreased the effect of depression on adverse outcomes as patients with untreated depression were more likely to experience complications, prolonged stay, readmission, and mortality (all p < 0.001). Patients with untreated depression incurred higher in-hospital and 90-day post-discharge expenditures (no depression: $17,551; treated: $22,086 [7.3% increase]; untreated: $24,897 [10.2% increase]; p < 0.001).
conclusionsDepression reduced the likelihood to achieve optimal postoperative outcomes, yet antidepressant treatment preoperatively mitigated the size of these effects. Screening for depression and initiating appropriate therapy may enhance outcomes.
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