A systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of depression among breast cancer patients in Sub-Saharan Africa

Background: Breast cancer is linked to neuropsychiatric conditions, particularly depression, which lowers life expectancy. Studies from Sub-Saharan Africa, however, have revealed conflicting prevalence rates of depression. Objective: To assess the combined prevalence of breast cancer-related depression among patients in Sub-Saharan Africa. Methods:  The following search terms—depression, depressive disorders, breast cancer, mammary cancer, mammary adenocarcinoma and breast carcinoma, and Sub-Saharan African—were used to conduct a systematic search for English articles on depression published in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, African Journal Online, and Google Scholar. A meta-command was used to combine the results of different studies on depression linked to breast cancer through a random effects model at a ۹۵% confidence interval in Stata software (version ۱۷). Results: After the elimination of duplicates, ۹,۲۷۲ articles were still found after the electronic search yielded ۱۲۰۵۱ results. A number of ۱۹ articles were still available after abstract and title screening, and they underwent full-text screening. A number of ۱۰ articles were removed for a variety of reasons, including the lack of the full text (n=۲), incorrect publication type (n=۲), and not reporting the full outcome of interest (n=۶). In Sub-Saharan Africa, the combined prevalence of breast cancer patients was ۶۰%. (۹۵CI, ۰.۵۱-۰.۶۹). The prevalence rates of depression among breast cancer patients in East Africa, South Africa, and West Africa were reported as ۶۴% (۹۵CI, ۰.۵۱-۰.۷۵),  ۶۰% (۹۵CI, ۰.۵۳-۰.۶۷), and ۵۵%. (۹۵CI, ۰.۳۶-۰.۷۳), respectively.  Conclusion: In Sub-Saharan Africa, about ۶ in ۱۰ cancer patients experience depression. Since depression negatively affects the quality of life, it is important to properly diagnose depression in order to treat it effectively with the fewest possible side effects.

کلیدواژه ها:

Breast cancer ، Depression ، Depressive disorders ، Neuropsychiatric disorder