Citation

Yen YC, Huang CY. J. Suicidol. (Taipei) 2022; 17(2): 167-169.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Taiwanese Society of Suicidology, Publisher Airiti)

DOI

10.30126/JoS.202206_17(2).0009

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Cancer patients have higher risk of dying by suicide in comparison to the general population. Evidence for clinical screening and intervention for depression in cancer and its effect on suicide prevention is suboptimal. This study aimed to identify the difference of suicide rates between cancer patients receiving and not receiving depression screening in the real world.

METHODS: This was a cohort study using the data of a university hospital from 2009 to 2020 in Taiwan. Overall, 10,534 cancer patients received routine depression screening and consequent intervention while 19,557 cancer patients failed to receive depression screening at the same time. Event was defined as the occurrence of suicide death with Poisson distribution.

RESULTS: Among all screened cancer patients, 17 died of suicide (incidence 0.001614 [95% CI 0.00094 to 0.002584], i.e., 14.67/100,000-person years); 67 unscreened cancer patients died of suicide (incidence 0.003426 [95% CI 0.002655 to 0.004351], i.e., 31.15/100,000-person years). Their difference of mortality rate was significant (p＜0.0001).

CONCLUSION: Routine screening and intervention for depression in cancer patients are associated with significantly decreased suicide death. Further study is needed to explore the mechanism and application in suicide prevention.

Language: zh

Keywords

cancer; mortality; screening for depression; suicide