Study finds that physical symptoms may disproportionately inflate depression scores in patients.
In addition to causing mental symptoms such as sadness and despair, depression can cause physical sensations including fatigue, headaches, back pain, gastrointestinal issues, and sleep problems. New research indicates that individuals with ovarian cancer report more of these physical issues at lower levels of depression than people in the general population. Published by Wileyonline in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings may reflect misattribution of cancer-related symptoms to depression in patients with ovarian cancer.
Research indicates that more than one-quarter of patients with ovarian cancer develop depressive symptoms. Diagnosis is complicated because physical symptoms of depression overlap with those that can arise from cancer-related causes. Investigators examined how physical symptoms of depression are reported relative to other depression symptoms in patients with ovarian cancer at the time of diagnosis and one-year postdiagnosis, comparing the results with those from people without cancer.
The team found that at diagnosis, patients reported physical symptoms more frequently than people without cancer and at a lower severity of depression (based on cognitive or emotional symptoms). These differences disappeared at the one-year follow-up, when disease processes no longer drove physical symptoms.
“We intend these findings to help guide assessments of depressive symptoms to discriminate between physical symptoms that are related to cancer and cognitive or affective symptoms that may respond to more traditional interventions for depression,” said lead author Rachel Telles, MA, of the University of Iowa. “We hope that more tailored care will improve outcomes for these patients.”
Additional information
NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. A free abstract of this article will be available via the CANCER Newsroom upon online publication. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact: Sara Henning-Stout, newsroom@wiley.com
Full Citation:
“Rethinking Depression Diagnosis in Ovarian Cancer: The Role of Somatic Symptoms.” Rachel Telles, Premal H. Thaker, Michael J. Goodheart, Frank J. Penedo, Anil K. Sood, and Susan K. Lutgendorf. CANCER; Published Online: May 11, 2026 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.70344).
URL Upon Publication: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/cncr.70344
Author Contact:Richard C. Lewis, of the University of Iowa’s central communications office, at richard-c-lewis@uiowa.edu
About the Journal
CANCER is a peer-reviewed publication of the American Cancer Society integrating scientific information from worldwide sources for all oncologic specialties. The objective of CANCER is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of information among oncologic disciplines concerned with the etiology, course, and treatment of human cancer. CANCER is published on behalf of the American Cancer Society by Wiley and can be accessed online. Follow CANCER on X @JournalCancer, and stay up to date with the American Cancer Society Journals on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
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