Mental health among patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A Danish nationwide study of psychotropic drug use in 8750 patients and 43 750 matched comparators

Psychological distress following cancer diagnosis may lead to mental health complications including depression and anxiety. Non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) include indolent and aggressive subtypes for which treatment and prognosis differ widely. Incident use of psychotropic drugs (PDs-antidepressants, antipsychotics, and anxiolytics) and its correlation to lymphoma types can give insights into the psychological distress these patients endure. In this prospective matched cohort study, we used nationwide population-based registries to investigate the cumulative risk of PD use in NHL patients compared to a sex- and age-matched cohort from the Danish background population. In addition, contact patterns to psychiatric departments and incident intentional self-harm or completed suicide were explored. In total, 8750 NHL patients and 43 750 matched comparators were included (median age 68; male:female ratio 1.6). Median follow-up was 7.1 years. Two-year cumulative risk of PD use was higher in NHL patients (16.4%) as compared to the matched comparators (5.1%, p < .01); patients with aggressive NHL subtypes had the highest incidence. Prescription rates were higher in the first years after diagnosis but approached the rate of the matched population 5 years into survivorship in aggressive NHLs, whereas patients with indolent subtypes continued to be at higher risk. NHL patients had a slightly higher two-year risk of suicide/intentional self-harm (0.3%) as compared to the matched comparators (0.2%, p = .01). These results demonstrate that mental health complications among NHL patients are frequent. Routine assessment for symptoms of depression and anxiety should be consider as part of standard follow-up of NHL patients.