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[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138134.].

Depression is common after a cancer diagnosis and is associated with an increased mortality, but it is unclear whether depression occurring before the cancer diagnosis affects cancer mortality. We aimed to study cancer mortality of people treated with antidepressants before cancer diagnosis.We conducted a population based cohort study of all adults diagnosed with cancer between January 2003 and December 2010 in Denmark (N = 201,662). We obtained information on cancer from the Danish Cancer Registry, on the day of death from the Danish Civil Registry, and on redeemed antidepressants from the Danish National Prescription Registry. Current users of antidepressants were defined as those who redeemed the latest prescription of antidepressant 0-4 months before cancer diagnosis (irrespective of earlier prescriptions), and former users as those who redeemed the latest prescription five or more months before cancer diagnosis. We estimated an all-cause one-year mortality rate ratio (MRR) and a conditional five-year MRR for patients who survived the first year after cancer diagnosis and confidence interval (CI) using a Cox proportional hazards regression model. Overall, 33,111 (16.4%) patients redeemed at least one antidepressant prescription in the three years before cancer diagnosis of whom 21,851 (10.8%) were current users at the time of cancer diagnosis. Current antidepressant users had a 32% higher one-year mortality (MRR = 1.32, 95% CI: 1.29-1.35) and a 22% higher conditional five-year mortality (MRR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.17-1.26) if patients survived the first year after the cancer diagnosis than patients not redeeming antidepressants. The one-year mortality was particularly high for patients who initiated antidepressant treatment within four months before cancer diagnosis (MRR = 1.54, 95% CI: 1.47-1.61). Former users had no increased cancer mortality.Initiation of antidepressive treatment prior to cancer diagnosis is common and is associated with an increased mortality.

BACKGROUND:Term birth is a gestational age from 259 days to 293 days. However trends in mortality according to gestational ages in days have not yet been described in this time period. METHODS AND FINDINGS:Based on nation-wide registries, we conducted a population-based cohort study among all children born at term in Denmark from 1997 to 2004 to estimate differences in mortality across gestational ages in days among singletons born at term. We studied early-neonatal mortality, neonatal mortality, infant mortality, and five-year mortality. Children were followed from birth up to the last day of the defined mortality period or December 31, 2009. A total of 360,375 singletons born between 259 and 293 days of gestation were included in the study. Mortality decreased with increasing gestational age in days and the highest mortality was observed among children born at 37 week of gestation. A similar pattern was observed when analyses were restricted to children born to by mothers without pregnancy complications. CONCLUSIONS:This study demonstrates heterogeneity in mortality rates even among singletons born at term. The highest mortality was observed among children born 37 weeks of gestation, which call for cautions when inducing labor in term pregnancies just reaching 37 weeks of gestation. The findings support that 37 weeks of gestation should be defined as early term.

Background and aimMaternal infections during pregnancy have been associated with several neurological disorders in the offspring. However, given the lack of specificity for both the exposures and the outcomes, other factors related to infection such as impaired maternal immune function may be involved in the causal pathway. If impaired maternal immune function plays a role, we would expect infection before pregnancy to be associated with these neurological outcomes.Methods/principal findingsThe study population included all first-born singletons in Denmark between January 1 1982 and December 31 2004. We identified women who had hospital-recorded infections within the 5 year period before pregnancy, and women who had hospital-recorded infections during pregnancy. We grouped infections into either infections of the genitourinary system, or any other infections. Cox models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Maternal infection of the genitourinary system during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of cerebral palsy (aHR = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.34-1.98) and epilepsy (aHR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.13-1.42) in the children, compared to children of women without infections during pregnancy. Among women without hospital-recorded infections during pregnancy, maternal infection before pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of epilepsy (aHR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.21-1.50 for infections of the genitourinary system, and HR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.03-1.22 for any other infections) and a slightly higher risk of cerebral palsy (aHR = 1.20, 95% CI: 0.96-1.49 for infections of the genitourinary system, and HR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.06-1.43 for any other infections) in the children, compared to children of women without infections before (and during) pregnancy.ConclusionsThese findings indicate that the maternal immune system, maternal infections, or factors related to maternal immune function play a role in the observed associations between maternal infections before pregnancy and cerebral diseases in the offspring.