Depressive illness and lung cancer. I. Depression before diagnosis.

Twenty-two (16%) of 134 lung cancer patients had symptoms of a major depressive illness at the time they first presented to hospital. This was a higher prevalence than that found in patients with non-malignant chest conditions, or in controls without serious disease. A past history of psychiatric illness, and the presence of metastatic disease, were the most significant correlates of depression. The depressive symptoms had often preceded the physical ones and apparently arisen in reaction to social stress.