Psychiatric Disorders in Cancer Patients at a University Hospital in Japan: Descriptive Analysis of 765 Psychiatric Referrals

In cancer patients, adjustment disorders, delirium and depression have been identified as common psychiatric disorders. Although a comparable result was reported in the National Cancer Center in Japan, the nature of patients in that hospital may differ from that in local hospitals. There is a possibility to expand the findings of psycho-oncology by evaluation of the data from a local university hospital and comparison with the National Cancer Center data. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of cancer patients who were referred to the Department of Psycho-Oncology at Saitama Medical University International Medical Center. We identified their characteristics and psychiatric diagnoses and compared these with the National Cancer Center data. During the study period, 765 cancer patients were referred. The numbers of inpatients and outpatients were almost the same. The most common psychiatric diagnosis was adjustment disorders (24), followed by delirium (16) and then major depressive disorder (12). The rank of these three was the same as that at the National Cancer Center. Outpatients constituted more than 80 of the patients with major depressive disorder. The proportion of cancer patients with schizophrenia in this study (4.3) was higher than that in the National Cancer Center (1.6). This study revealed basic information about the consultation data of cancer patients at a local university hospital in Japan. The importance of communication with outpatients was suggested. It seems that cancer treatment for patients with schizophrenia in a local hospital is also important.