Background: Reported prevalence of emotional distress in cancer patients varies widely across studies. The present study determined prevalence of anxiety and depression (separated for presence of symptoms versus clinical levels) in a large, representative sample of cancer patients after diagnosis.

Method: During the years 2004-2009, 10,153 consecutive patients were routinely screened with the Psychosocial Screen for Cancer questionnaire at two major cancer centers.

Results: Patients' mean age was 59 years and 45% were men. Across cancer types, 19.0% of patients showed clinical levels of anxiety and another 22.6% had subclinical symptoms. Further, 12.9% of patients reported clinical symptoms of depression and an additional 16.5% described subclinical symptoms. Analyses by cancer type revealed significant differences such that patients with lung, gynecological, or hematological cancer reported the highest levels of distress at the time point of cancer diagnosis. As expected, women showed higher rates of anxiety and depression, and for some cancer types the prevalence was two to three times higher than that seen for men. In some cancer types emotional distress was inversely related to age. Patients younger than 50 and women across all cancer types revealed either subclinical or clinical levels of anxiety in over 50% of cases.

Limitations: Findings describe levels of emotional distress after diagnosis but cannot inform about trajectories of anxiety and depression over time.

Conclusion: Given that levels of anxiety and depression varied widely by cancer type, gender, and age, these results inform which cancer patients are most likely in need of psychosocial support.