People with cancer ‘four times more likely to kill themselves after diagnosis’

PEOPLE living with cancer are four times more likely to be suicidal than those without the disease, experts warn.

And those diagnosed with certain cancers are more at risk, a new study of more than eight million cancer patients found.

People living with cancer are at a much bigger risk of suicide than the general populationScientists from Penn State College of Medicine found that white men, patients diagnosed at a younger age and people living with lung, head and neck, testicular cancers and lymphomas were more likely to be suicidal.

“Even though cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, most cancer patients do not die from cancer, the patients usually die of another cause,” radiation oncologist Nicholas Zaorsky said.

“There are multiple competing risks for death, and one of them is suicide.

“Distress and depression can arise from cancer diagnosis, treatment, financial stress, and other causes. Ultimately, distress and depression may lead to suicide. Our goal was to quantify the risk of suicide among cancer patients.”

Dr Zaorsky said that while we’ve made a lot of progress in terms of treating cancer, not enough has been done about how cancer can affect patients mentally and emotionally.

Scientists compared the suicide risk of cancer patients and that of the general American public to see whether certain cancer patients had a higher risk than other patients.

They looked at the data between 1973 and 2014, on more than 8.6 million patients who had been diagnosed with cancer that had spread beyond the tissue in which it had originally developed.

13,311 of the patients analysed had killed themselves – four times the number of the general population.

That’s a two-fold increase since a previous study in 2002 which reported a 1.9 increased risk.

Researchers also found that while the risk of suicide decreases five years after diagnoses, the risk remains high for people with Hodgkin lymphoma and testicular cancer.

Dr Zaorsky said that it also mattered at what age someone was diagnosed.

“Treatments for some cancers – like leukaemia and testicular cancer among adolescents and young adults, for example – can decrease a patient’s fertility, and that seems to be one of the risks for suicide in the long term. In contrast, elderly patients who are diagnosed with lung, prostate, and head and neck cancers, are at an increased risk of suicide for the remainder of their life. “

The research, he said, could be used to get help to susceptible patients quicker.

“This information could be helpful while developing guidelines and strategies for how and when to screen cancer patients for depression and distress,” Dr Zaorsky said.

“For example, aiming suicide-prevention strategies at older patients and those with certain cancers, such as prostate, lung, leukaemias and lymphomas, may be beneficial.”

Every 90 minutes, someone takes their own life in the UK

It’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, making it more deadly than cancer itself.

That’s why we launched the You’re Not Alone campaign, to raise awareness of just how common and devasting suicide and feeling suicidal can be.

There are several warning signs that a person may be at risk of suicide – and they’re not always that obvious.

Some people will be in obvious distress, while others can go on seemingly living their lives as though everything is fine.

Subtle changes in personality can be telling, Lorna Fraser from the Samaritans told The Sun.

She told us: “It’s really important for us to be aware of the warning signs that so we aren’t blindsided by suicide risk.

“Very often, people might be worried about opening up that conversation, are they opening up a can of worms, are they going to make the person feel worse? So people are often apprehensive to dive in and speak to them about it.

“But actually we encourage that because you won’t make that person feel worse.”

Key signs to watch out for include:

1. A change in routine, such as sleeping or eating less than normal
2. Lacking energy or appearing particularly tired
3. Drinking, smoking or using drugs more than usual
4. Finding it hard to cope with everyday things
5. Not wanting to do things they usually enjoy
6. Becoming withdrawn from friends and family – not wanting to talk or be with people
7. Appearing more tearful
8. Appearing restless, agitated, nervous, irritable
9. Putting themselves down in a serious or jokey way, for example, ‘Oh, no one loves me’, or ‘I’m a waste of space’
10. Losing interest in their appearance, not liking or taking care of themselves or feeling they don’t matter

So if you know of something who is battling cancer, it might be worth checking that they’re coping mentally.

Lorna again: “We add a lot of pressure to our own situations. If you imagine if you’ve suffered some life events that are causing great difficulty you are already under pressure and having to cope with that, but we add to that by making ourselves feel that we need to hold it all together and paint this picture that everything is OK.”

It might be hard for you both but it can be a massive relief to talk and share something that’s so lifechanging and potentially devasting.

And if you’re living with cancer, don’t hesitate to contact any of the numbers above to chat.

Remember, you’re not alone.

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