Unmet need for mental health services in indolent lymphoma: age differences over one-year post-diagnosis

Abstract

This study examined distress and mental health service use in patients with newly diagnosed indolent lymphoma over the first-year post-diagnosis, as well as differences by age. Patients with indolent lymphoma completed online self-report measure of distress and whether they accessed mental health services (Yes/No) every four months for a total of four surveys. The baseline sample consisted of 74 patients; 41.9% were age 65 years and older, 24.3% endorsed elevated distress, and 16.2% accessed mental health services. Across time, less than half (36.4–46.7%) of distressed patients accessed mental health services. In patients younger than 65 years, a greater proportion of distressed than non-distressed patients accessed mental health services. However, distress was not associated with mental health service use in older adults. Future research should evaluate issues driving distress and access to mental health care in patients with indolent lymphomas, including age-based approaches.

Keywords:

• Indolent lymphoma
• distress
• mental health
• age

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Simon Cohen and David Kwak for their work on recruitment for this study and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Psycho-oncology in Aging and Cancer (PAC MSK) research laboratory for feedback on prior versions of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Institute on Aging and American Federation for Aging Research (K23 AG048632, Trevino).