This is one of three studies on depression in patients with cancer, funded by Cancer Research UK and the Scottish government and published simultaneously across three Lancet journals (the Lancet, Lancet Psychiatry, and Lancet Oncology). This research is timely considering that the risk of depression has been shown to be two-to-three-times higher in patients with cancer than in the general population, and could contribute to poorer quality of life and increased risk of suicide.
The collaborative care intervention for depression, which is referred to as depression care for people with cancer, is a complex intervention involving both antidepressant medication and psychological treatment that makes available for each patient contact with, or input from, a nursing case manager trained in problem-solving therapy and behavioural activation, a primary care physician, a psychiatrist, and liaison with the patient's oncologist.
The individual components of the intervention are not themselves novel, but the benefit of their delivery in an integrated system of this type has not previously been shown in patients with cancer. What cannot be established from the SMaRT Oncology studies is which components of this complex intervention are its most active ingredients. However the findings of the studies of this are considered to represent a significant advance in knowledge and suggest that treatments for depression delivered within such a framework might be most likely to achieve a positive outcome.