New UK studies have indicated that around three-quarters of cancer patients who have major depression are not currently receiving treatment for their depression.

The research also reveals that a new integrated approach to treating cancer in these patients is much more effective at reducing depression and improving quality of life than current methods of care.

An analysis of data from more than 21,000 patients attending cancer clinics in Scotland published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal found that major depression is substantially more common in cancer patients than in the general population.

Major depression was most common in patients with lung cancer (13%) and lowest in those with genitourinary cancer (6%). Also nearly three out of four (73%) of depressed cancer patients were not receiving treatment for their depression.

To address this issue, another trial, published in The Lancet, evaluated the effectiveness of a new treatment programme called Depression Care for People with Cancer (DCPC).

This is provided by a team of specially-trained nurses and psychiatrists, working with the patient's cancer care team and GP, and is given as part of cancer care. This treatment plan includes both antidepressant drugs and psychological therapy.

The trial, involving 500 adults with major depression and a type of cancer with a good prognosis (predicted survival more than 12 months) compared DCPC with usual care.

The DCPC system was much more effective at reducing depression. At six months, 62% of the patients who received DCPC responded to treatment, with at least a 50% reduction in the severity of depression, compared to only 17% of those who received usual care.

This benefit was maintained a year later. DCPC also improved anxiety, pain, fatigue, functioning, and quality of life.

According to the lead author of this study, Prof Michael Sharpe from the University of Oxford: "The huge benefit that DCPC delivers for patients with cancer and depression shows what we can achieve for patients if we take as much care with the treatment of their depression as we do with the treatment of their cancer."

To see if patients with a poor cancer prognosis could also benefit from this new approach to treatment, another research project, published in The Lancet Oncology, tested a version of DCPC adapted for patients with lung cancer, which usually has a poor prognosis.

The trial, involving 142 patients with lung cancer and major depression, found that those who received DCPC had a much greater improvement in depression than those who received usual care. The modified version of DCPC also improved anxiety, functioning, and quality of life.

According to study leader Dr Jane Walker from the University of Oxford: "Patients with lung cancer often have a poor prognosis. If they also have major depression that can blight the time they have left to live. This trial shows that we can effectively treat depression in patients with poor prognosis cancers like lung cancer and really improve patients' lives."