Depressive symptoms are common in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), but their effect on post-transplant survival and recovery outcomes hadn't been thoroughly reviewed before this study.
The research analyzed data from 18 studies with over 22,000 participants and found a notable link between pre-transplant depression and poorer overall survival rates; specifically, it identified a hazard ratio of 1.07, indicating increased risk for those with depression.
The review suggests that systematic depression screening should be implemented before HSCT, as depression appears to negatively influence survival rates and recovery metrics like the length of aplasia and the frequency of infections.