The Incidence of Cancer Among In-Patients with Affective Disorders.

The article examines the incidence of cancer among in-patients with affective disorders. The authors concluded that a form of depressive illness in male patients arising in late middle age without previous psychiatric illness and occurring without apparent cause may be an early and direct manifestation of latent carcinoma. There was no evidence to support an association depressive illness and subsequent deaths from cancer in psychiatric in-patients. Information about an increased mortality rate in patients with affective disorders is also discussed.