Enhancing depression management in older cancer patients: the pharmacist’s role

A systematic review regarding the efficacy of pharmacological interventions in the overall quality of life (QoL) and health-related outcomes in older cancer patients with depression1 concluded that there is a dearth of literature on pharmacist involvement in pharmacological antidepressant treatment, underscoring a need for the development of tailored and targeted research in older cancer patients with depression.1 With depression becoming one of the major public health concerns affecting around 10–20% of patients with cancer and 5–7% of the general population,2 it is also associated with increasing cases of cancer mortality due to medications and treatment therapy, appointments with physicians and several biological changes.3 However, there is a major gap in the representation of older cancer patients as research participants due to various health complications, alteration in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters and polypharmacy resulting in an evidence lag in this area. Older patients are often overlooked … Correspondence to Nabin Pathak; pathaknabin89{at}gmail.com; Sunil Shrestha; sunilcresta{at}gmail.com