Research: Cancer Diagnosis Raises Suicide Risk by 26 Percent

Individuals diagnosed with cancer between 2000 and 2016 had a 26 percent higher risk of suicide compared with the general population, new research shows. Both insurance status and ethnicity contributed to the elevated risk, authors wrote. Those with poor prognosis at the time of diagnosis were at a heightened risk of suicide within two years of learning they had the disease. Patients who had cancers prone to long-term quality-of-life impairments were at a greater risk after these first two years. However, the highest risk was seen within the first six months after a patient received a cancer diagnosis, where the risk was seven times greater than that of the general population. Findings underscore the need for timely symptom management and targeted psychosocial interventions for suicide prevention in individuals diagnosed with cancer, researchers said. Read more from The Hill here.