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Risk of suicide in cancer patients in Western Australia, 1981–2002
Author(s) -
Dormer Nigel R C,
McCaul Kieran A,
Kristjanson Linda J
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb01555.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cancer , incidence (geometry) , retrospective cohort study , standardized mortality ratio , cohort , cohort study , pediatrics , demography , sociology , physics , optics
Objective: To describe the incidence and risk of suicide in cancer patients in Western Australia from 1981 to 2002. Design, setting and patients: Retrospective cohort study of patients diagnosed with cancer in WA from 1981 to 2002, using data from the WA Linked Database. Main outcome measure: Age‐standardised mortality ratios (SMRs). Results: A total of 121 533 patients were diagnosed with cancer, corresponding to a total of 543 696 person‐years at risk. There were 129 suicides in this group (108 in men). The SMR for suicide in cancer patients was 1.61 (95% CI, 1.36–1.92). An initial period of peak risk was seen in the first 3 months after cancer diagnosis (SMR, 5.75; 95% CI, 3.89–8.51), mainly in patients with a poor prognosis. A second peak period of risk was found to occur 12–14 months after diagnosis (SMR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.11–4.89) in those with a good or moderate prognosis. Conclusion: The rate of suicide in cancer patients in WA is low and represents an excess of two to three suicides per year, or 0.3% of all cancer deaths, comparable to studies in other Western countries. The risk is highest in the first 3 months after diagnosis, and a second period of increased risk 12–14 months after diagnosis may occur in response to cancer recurrence or treatment failure.