Substance Use Disorder More Common Among Survivors of Certain Cancers

The prevalence of substance use disorder in cancer survivors varies by cancer type, according to research published in JAMA Oncology.

For this study, researchers evaluated 2015-2020 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which included 6101 patients who had any lifetime history of cancer.

The weighted prevalence of active substance use disorder (within the past 12 months) was 3.83% in these patients. The highest prevalence of active substance use disorder was seen in patients with a history of esophageal and gastric cancer (9.42%), followed by head and neck cancer (9.36%), cervical cancer (6.24%), and melanoma (6.20%).

The most common substance use disorder was alcohol use disorder (2.78%), followed by stimulant (0.5%), cannabis (0.46%), opioid (0.43%), sedative (0.12%), and other substance (0.05%) use disorders.

Alcohol use disorder was most commonly seen in survivors of head and neck cancer (6.92%), as was sedative use disorder (1.82%) and opioid use disorder (1.40%). Stimulant use disorder was most common in survivors of colon and rectal cancer (1.65%), cannabis use disorder was most common in survivors of esophageal and gastric cancer (9.42%), and other substance use disorder was most common in survivors of uterine cancer (0.21%).

The researchers also conducted a secondary analysis that included only the 1437 patients who had cancer within 12 months of completing the survey. In this group, the prevalence of active substance use disorder was 3.81%, and it was most common among patients with a history of head and neck cancer (18.73%).

“Findings of this study suggest that SUD [substance use disorder] prevalence is higher among survivors of certain types of cancers,” the researchers concluded. “Future efforts to understand and address the needs of adult cancer survivors with comorbid SUD should prioritize cancer populations in which SUD prevalence is high.”

Disclosures: Some study authors declared conflicts of interest. Please see the original reference for a full list of disclosures.

This article originally appeared on Cancer Therapy Advisor