Citation

Kumar V, Chaudhary N, Soni P, Jha P. Am. J. Psychiatry Resid. J. 2017; 12(1): 11-14.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, American Psychiatric Association Publishing)

DOI

10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2017.120104

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Suicide rates are higher in cancer patients when compared with the general population. This is secondary to an increase in psychosocial stress due to poor prognosis of cancer and treatment-related morbidity (1-4). Improvements in cancer treatment and increased awareness relating to the higher risk for suicide in this population has resulted in a decline in suicide rates in some European countries (1, 5). However, a population-based retrospective study conducted in England during 1996-2005 revealed no change in the suicide rates in cancer patients (6). In the United States, a previous study based on the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database concluded that cancer patients diagnosed during 1973-2002 were at double the risk of committing suicide when compared with the general population (7). The awareness about higher risk of suicide among cancer patients increased in the United States after a series of events such as the development of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention by the U.S. Surgeon General in 2001 (8, 9). Moreover, awareness regarding the psychosocial needs of cancer survivors increased following initiatives by the National Cancer Institute (10). The survival rates of cancer patients has increased due to advancements in cancer treatment (11). However, there are no data on the risk of suicide in cancer patients in more recent years. The purpose of the present study was to estimate the suicide rates in cancer patients compared with the general population in the United States from 2000 onward. We further compared suicide rates among patients diagnosed in 2000-2006 and 2007-2013.