Suicide Risk Higher Among Cancer Patients

Cancerdefine patients often think that they were “better off dead” and most had considered hurting themselves in someway. The “Journal of Clinical Oncology” stated that the incidence of suicide in cancer patients is roughly twice as frequent as that in the general population.

The journey with cancerdefine is long, stressful and a strenuous one. It’s unpredictable, uncanny, and may be within the body with you blissfully unaware of it, quietly manifesting, shrouded in obscurity until its revelation with the first symptoms. The effects of this dreaded disease is such that it virtually affects every organ, quietly dismantling the very functional mechanism of the human body.

Cancer is the only common medical condition that carries an elevated risk of suicide. The emotional distress associated with this disease encourages suicidal thoughts. The risk is highest in the first month of diagnosis. Passive suicidal thoughts are relatively common among cancer patients. There is a tendency of patients requesting their doctor’s assistance for an early death. Overdosing with analgesics, sedatives and painkillers like morphine, and use of firearms were the most common methods.

Total of 5,838 suicides occurred, that is 31.4 out of every 100,000 person-years which is nearly twice as high as the rate of 16.7/ 100,000 person-year seen in general population.

In terms of cancer types, lung cancer carried highest suicidal risk, closely followed by those of stomach, pharynx, lung and oral cancer and in HIVdefine- positive patients. The risk was greatest in the first five years of diagnosis.

The risk was high among those with psychiatric problems, mood disorders, depressiondefine, and impulsive behavior. Having a family history of suicides, given to substance abuse, prior suicide attempts, death of close friend or spouse and lack of social support system were reason enough for a cancer patient to go over the edge.

Dr Jane Walker of Royal Edinburgh Hospital in UK says, “Management of emotional distress and pain should be a central aspect of cancer care.”

The cancer patients who committed suicide were more likely those who were in the advanced stage of the disease. Poor prognosisdefine, inadequately controlled pain, presence of deficit symptoms, loss of bowl and bladderdefine control, sensory loss in ability to eat or swallow was frustrating enough for them to take this extreme step. Most had visited their physicians a month before ending their life and 25% had seen their doctor the previous week.

Dr. Timothy E. Quill, from the University of Rochester, Medical Center in NY says, “it’s important to ask about suicidal thoughts regularly, especially when the disease is worsening, symptoms increasing, or the patient is entering a more serious phase of illness, creating an environment where these issues can be explored without being judged as critical.”