Cancer patients have elevated risk of suicide, study suggests

New research, yet to be peer reviewed, but being presented at the European Congress of Psychiatry has found that cancer patients have a 55 per cent greater risk of suicide than then the general population.

The analysis examined the incidence of suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts in cancer patients and included studies published between 1983 and 2015 from Australia, Canada, China, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, the UK and the US.

The findings of the study indicated patients with cancer were found to have a 55 per cent higher suicide rate compared with people without the disease. But the analysis revealed no increased risk of suicide attempts ( 8,147,762 participants) or suicidal thoughts (42,700 participants) in patients with cancer.

Co-author Dr Raffaella Calati from the department of emergency psychiatry and post-acute care at Lapeyronie hospital, Montpellier, described the results as ‘extremely preliminary’ but nevertheless significant.

“The key message that remains is that in the majority of the studies there is an increased risk. We are quite sure the risk would be higher, although I cannot say the exact number.”

The researchers said: “The assessment of suicide risk in patients with cancer is crucial. We suggest there is a need in cancer patients to be screened and cared not only for anxiety and depression, but also specifically for those people with suicidal thoughts and a lifetime history of suicide attempts, in particular during the period immediately subsequent to the diagnosis of cancer.”