The study found head and neck cancer survivors are two times more likely to commit suicide
Despite improved survival rates among cancer patients, the risk of death by suicide remains high. This is particularly true for those treated for head and neck cancers.
The findings, by Nosayaba Osazuwa-Peters, BDS, PH.D., MPH, assistant professor of otolaryngology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and faculty member at the Saint Louis University Cancer Center, were published in the latest issue of the journal Cancer.
The study found head and neck survivors are two times more likely to commit suicide than survivors of other cancers. They are four times more likely to commit suicide than the general population.
Only pancreatic cancer survivors had a higher suicide rate than head and neck cancer survivors at 86.4 suicides per 100,000 persons
“This problem of suicide is bigger than many realize. In the general U.S. population, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death,” Osazuwa-Peters said. “But to think that it might be an even bigger problem among cancer survivors is staggering.”
There are an estimated 1 million new cancer cases, in India every year. It is predicted to nearly double in the next 20 years with age-adjusted mortality rates of 64.5 per 1,00,000 people.
The National Health Profile predicts that the total number of male cancer patients will jump to 6,22,203 in 2020 from the current 5,22,164. The number of female cancer patients will touch 6,98,725 by 2020 from the present 5,64,619.
Surviving cancer comes at a cost, Osazuwa-Peters said. In the immediate aftermath of diagnosis and treatment, the need to survive often overtakes concerns about functionality and aesthetics.
But approximately one-half of head and neck cancer survivors become functionally disabled after completing treatment and are unable to return to work. Persistent and lasting disfigurements or loss of skills may increase depression, psychological distress, fear of recurrence and suicidal ideation.
“Now, more than ever before, people are outliving their cancer diagnosis. This makes lifelong surveillance critical – being considered a ‘cancer survivor’ does not tell you how well the individual is doing,” Osazuwa-Peters said. “Some cancer survivors unfortunately decide that is better that they are dead rather than being alive.”
Survivors for the study were identified from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) 18-registry database using patients diagnosed between 2000-2014.
SEER is a publicly available, nationally representative, population-based cancer database that contains more than 8 million cancer cases, with data that span four decades and cover 28 percent of the U.S. population. SEER has developed and maintained high-quality, validated data on causes of death among cancer survivors, providing insight into relative and cause-specific deaths in this population.
The study looked at patients over the age of 20 who had a first primary malignancy of the head or neck. That included squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, nasal cavity and sinuses. Thyroid cancer patients were excluded because while the thyroid is in the head and neck region, thyroid cancer is an endocrine cancer and is different from squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.
The suicide rate among the head and neck cancer patients was compared to the rates of those diagnosed with prostate; breast; lung and bronchus; colon and rectum; urinary bladder; melanoma of the skin; non-Hodgkin lymphoma; kidney and renal pelvis; corpus and uterus; leukemia; pancreas; thyroid; stomach; liver and intrahepatic bile duct; Hodgkin lymphoma; brain and other nervous system; testis; ovary; and cervix uteri.
Only pancreatic cancer survivors had a higher suicide rate than head and neck cancer survivors at 86.4 suicides per 100,000 persons.
The study found head and neck cancer survivors are two times more likely to die by suicide than survivors of other cancers.
