Health & Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-21-2026
Abstract
Depression is highly prevalent among cancer survivors and contributes to poorer quality of life, reduced treatment adherence, and increased morbidity. Functional limitations, loneliness, and inadequate social and emotional support are important psychosocial factors associated with self-reported lifetime diagnosis of major depressive disorder among cancer survivors. Using a cross-sectional study design, this study examined the independent associations of functional limitations, loneliness, and social/emotional support with a self-reported lifetime diagnosis of major depressive disorder among a large sample of U.S. cancer survivors. Data were drawn from the 2023 and 2024 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The analytic sample included 70,620 adult cancer survivors (56.3% female) with depression as the outcome variable. Functional limitations, loneliness, and social/emotional support were primary explanatory variables. Multivariable logistic regression models estimated adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related covariates. Overall, 21.8% of cancer survivors reported depression. In the fully adjusted models, loneliness (AOR = 2.72, 95% CI: 2.44–3.03), functional limitations (AOR = 2.05, 95% CI: 1.81–2.31), and lack of social/emotional support (AOR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.27–1.62) were independently associated with higher odds of depression. Female sex, low income, cost-related forgone medical care, poor self-rated health, obesity, and current/former smoking were also significantly negatively associated with depression, while physical activity was protective. We found that functional limitations, loneliness, and inadequate social support are robust and independent associated factors of depression among cancer survivors. Screening and interventions targeting these psychosocial factors may improve mental health outcomes and enhance overall survivorship care.
Recommended Citation
Baiden, P., Chireh, B., & Anagbonu, J. S. (2026). Modifiable psychosocial risk factors for depression among cancer survivors in the United States. PloS one, 21(10), e0359599. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0359599
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publication Title
PLoS One
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0359599
Comments
© 2026 Baiden et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.