Suicide attempts and deaths among spouses of cancer patients are increasing

TUESDAY, Aug. 20, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Spouses of cancer patients have an increased risk of suicide attempts and suicide death, especially in the first year after diagnosis, according to a study published online Aug. 15 in JAMA Oncology.

Qianwei Liu, MD, Ph.D., of Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, and colleagues estimated the risk of suicide attempts and suicide death among spouses of cancer patients using registry-based data from 1986 to 2016 in a nationwide cohort study in Denmark. The study included 409,338 people whose spouses had developed cancer between 1986 and 2015 and 2,046,682 people whose spouses had not received a cancer diagnosis during the same period.

The researchers identified 2,714 and 9,994 cases of suicide attempts among exposed and unexposed individuals, respectively (incidence rates 62.6 and 50.5 per 100,000 person-years), and 711 and 2,270 cases of suicide death among exposed and unexposed individuals, respectively (incidence rates 16.3 and 11.4 per 100,000 person-years). Spouses of cancer patients had an increased risk of suicide attempt and suicide death throughout follow-up (hazard ratios 1.28 and 1.47, respectively). The increased risk was highest in the first year after cancer diagnosis (hazard ratios 1.45 and 2.56 for suicide attempt and suicide death, respectively). If the cancer was diagnosed at an advanced stage or if the spouse died after the cancer diagnosis, the risk of both suicide attempt and suicide death was more increased.

“Therefore, clinical and societal awareness is needed to prevent suicidal behavior in this vulnerable population,” the authors write.

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