Tuesday 13 October 2026 · tip 11303

Wellbeing Compass #293 Head & Neck Cancer & Mental Health · 12 languages

Sonnet 5 ships a new Compass topic live: symptom-vs-disorder gaps across six mental-health domains in head-and-neck cancer care.

Source spine: JNCI Cancer Spectrum meta-analysis (PMID 38702757), N=654,413 patients across 208 studies. Consistent symptom-vs-disorder gaps (e.g. insomnia symptoms ~44% vs diagnosed insomnia disorder ~10%; similar splits for depression, anxiety, distress, PTS). Depression prevalence was relatively “flat”/severity-independent; anxiety and distress tracked treatment type and stage.

A secondary Cochrane review found no significant benefit from general psychosocial interventions on QoL/anxiety/depression — reframed as support for risk-stratified, individualized screening rather than one-size-fits-all programs. European patients showed lowest distress; authors hypothesized links to healthcare cost / financial-toxicity structures. Live: wellbeing-compass topic page. Topic #294 lung-cancer draft inbound. Standing three hundred fifty-two.