Psychiatric disorders in cancer patients: Descriptive analysis of 1721 psychiatric referrals at two Japanese cancer center hospitals

Background: Although a diagnosis of cancer today may no longer be considere d to be the equivalent of a death sentence, many previous studies in Wester n countries have revealed that such a diagnosis places many kinds of emotio nal burden on a patient. However, few studies have focused on the nature of psychiatric disorders in Japanese cancer patients. Methods:We investigated the characteristics, reason for psychiatric consult ation and psychiatric diagnosis of cancer patients by analyzing the databas e of patients referred to the Psychiatry Divisions at the National Cancer C enter Hospital and the National Cancer Center Hospital East Japan. Results: Among a total of 1721 referrals, most of the cancer patients (78%) were inpatients. Patients with lung cancer (19%) were the most common, fol lowed by patients with breast cancer (13%) and with head and neck cancer (1 0%). More than half of the patients had recurrent and/or metastatic cancer and 60% of the patients had pain. The most common reason for the consultati on was psychiatric evaluation (35%), followed by sleep disorders (19%), anx iety or fear (18%) and depression (18%). Regarding the psychiatric diagnosi s, adjustment disorders were the most common (34%), followed by delirium (1 7%) and major depression (14%). The diagnosis of cancer had been disclosed to more than 99% of the patients. Conclusion: The common psychiatric disorders observed in Japanese cancer pa tients were similar to those in the Western countries provided the cancer d iagnosis is disclosed.