Dr. Fang and her associates emphasized that their study "focused on hard outcomes alone, and thus probably did not capture the full extent of the psychological burden among patients with newly diagnosed cancer. Other potentially relevant outcomes, such as attempted suicide and severe but nonfatal CV events, remain to be explored," they noted.
In addition, this study involved only adults aged 30 years and older. Further studies are warranted to examine the immediate after-effects of a cancer diagnosis in children, adolescents, and young adults.
Most importantly, now that these elevated risks have been identified, future research must address prevention strategies, they said.
This study was supported by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, the Swedish Research Council, Hjärnfonden, and Svenska Sällskapet för Medicinsk Forskning. No financial conflicts of interest were reported.