�In this News Digest:
- Summaries of three studies being published online August 11, 2008 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology showing people with genus Cancer are more likely to commit felo-de-se or excogitate taking their own lives, compared to the general population
- Overview of an editorial examining the implications for the oncology community
- Quote for attribution from the American Society of Clinical Oncology's president, Dr. Richard Schilsky
- Links to additional information from ASCO's Cancer.Net and other crab groups
Cancer patients virtually twice as likely as the U.S. general population to pull suicide
This study by researchers at the University of Washington compared suicide rates among people diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. from 1973 to 2002 (using information from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program) with those in the general U.S. population (victimisation data from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics). Researchers found that the rate of suicide among cancer patients was 31.4 per 100,000 person-years, versus 16.7 per one C,000 person-years in the general population.
Higher suicide rates were associated with male grammatical gender, white slipstream, and elder age at diagnosis. The highest self-annihilation risks were observed in patients with lung, tummy, oral/pharyngeal and larynx cancers. The danger of felo-de-se was greatest within the first basketball team years of cancer diagnosis but remained elevated up to 15 years next diagnosis. The study did not address potential reasons for elevated suicide rates among cancer patients overall or among people with specific cancer the Crab types.
Misono S, et al. University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Older Americans with cancer the Crab are more than twice as likely to commit suicide as those without cancer
This written report by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School compared 128 New Jersey residents age 65 and older who committed suicide between 1994 and 2002 with 1,280 living controls in the same eld group, and found that suicide risk was 2.3 times greater among people with cancer than among those without cancer - tied after adjusting for historic period, sex, race, medical and psychiatric illnesses, and manipulation of prescription medications. This was the first population-based study to examine the relative risk of exposure of felo-de-se associated with medical weather among older Americans while controlling for other medical and psychiatrical illnesses.
Cancer patients wHO committed suicide were more than likely to have advanced metastatic disease, and two-thirds of them committed self-annihilation with a firearm. They also base that most of the patients wHO committed self-annihilation had visited a medico in the month before their death, and 25 percent were seen within a hebdomad of their suicide.
Miller M, et al. Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
UK work finds cancer patients besides more likely to hold suicidal thoughts
This study by researchers at University of Edinburgh reports data from survey that evaluated stream cancer patients' state of mind toward suicide, examining whether patients reported thoughts of existence "better off dead" or of "hurting themselves in some way" in the previous deuce weeks. Researchers questioned 2,924 people being treated as outpatients at the Regional Cancer Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland. Nearly 8 percent of participants aforesaid these thoughts persisted over at least several years during this period. Researchers compared this to a similar survey of the general population in Australia, finding that only 2.6 percentage of respondents reported having such thoughts.
The authors found that suicidal thoughts were associated with having substantial emotional distress or pain and not with cancer severeness. They terminated that better management of these symptoms can improve patients' quality of life and english hawthorn also reduce suicide peril.
Walker J, et al. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland.
More attention is needed to suicidal thoughts and actions among people with cancer
In an editorial by Timothy Quill, MD, professor of medicine, psychological medicine and medical humanities at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Dr. Quill explains that the majority of old research on this topic focused only on terminally ill patients, while these studies bring home the bacon detailed information on broader populations such as patients likely to be semipermanent survivors and those for whom cancer is a chronic illness.
Dr. Quill suggests that thoughts around death and suicide whitethorn be common among terminally ill cancer patients and that suicide is more than likely underreported. He urges physicians to proactively engage patients in clear conversations or so their aroused health. Quill states: "It is important to ask about self-destructive thoughts regularly, especially when disease is worsening, symptoms are increasing, or the patient is entering a more serious phase of illness�Creating an environment where these issues can be openly explored without being judged is critical."
Quill T. University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY.
ASCO Perspective
Richard L. Schilsky, MD, ASCO President
"As oncologists, we deal people with life-threatening disease on a daily base. While we play a vital role in providing needed medical treatment, it's equally important to know our patients' state of mind. These studies underline the mental as well as physical challenges lining cancer patients. As a community we need to talk more openly with our patients about their mental wellness and nexus them to psychosocial services when required."
Related information on ASCO's Cancer.Net
- Depression and anxiety
- Talking with someone world Health Organization has crab
- Telephone & Email Cancer Helplines
Information on These Studies for Patients
JCO Cancer Advances
Other Resources
- American Psychosocial Oncology Society
- CancerCare
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National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS)
The Journal of Clinical Oncology is the semi-monthly peer-reviewed journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the world's leading professional society representing physicians who treat people with cancer.
American Society of Clinical Oncology
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