Citation

Mirshahidi HR, Nasseri K, Mills PK. J. Clin. Oncol. 2011; 29(15 Suppl): 1535.

Affiliation

Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, CA; University of Liverpool, Santa Barbara, CA; University of California, San Francisco Fresno Medical Education and Research Program, Fresno, CA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, American Society of Clinical Oncology)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

28024063

Abstract

1535 Background: Compared to general population, cancer patients are at higher risk of suicide, which is clustered in White men diagnosed with cancers with poor prognosis. The objective of this study was to calculate suicide age-adjusted rates in cancer patients by detailed race/ethnicity and compare it with similar rates in general population.

METHODS: 929,369 cases registered with the California Cancer Registry for the years 2000-2005 and 716 suicides in them were used to calculate the sex, and race/ethnicity specific age-adjusted rates. Suicide rates in general population was calculated from the California Death Certificate Master files for the same period and same race/ethnicity. Relative risks (RR) for stage at diagnosis, marital and socioeconomic status were also calculated.

RESULTS: Although 0.2 percent of all death among cancer patients was suicide, its RR in the non-Hispanic White men and women, and Hispanic men were 5.87, 4.99, and 8.05, respectively. Close to 50 percent of all suicides were completed in the first six months post diagnosis, and age specific rates in young patients was raised to form a "blip". Men with cancers of the Esophagus, Stomach, Pancreas, Lung and Bronchus, Melanoma of the Skin, Prostate, Urinary Bladder, Kidney and Renal Pelvis, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, and those labeled as Miscellaneous had significantly higher RR. In women, the high RR was noticed only for patients with the breast and ovarian cancers. No significant association was found with the stage of diagnosis, marital, and socioeconomic status.

CONCLUSIONS: Considering the multifactorial nature of suicide and the lack of association with severity of the disease, and some of the patients' demographics, it is concluded that diagnosis of cancer acts as "precipitating" factor for suicide in patients who are already "suicidal". Oncologists who diagnose and manage cancer cases need to include psychological evaluation in their routine to prevent it from happening.

Language: en