The risk of suicide is significantly increased in patients with pancreatic cancer. Turaga et al identified risk factors for suicide in this population. The authors are from the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Mayo Clinic.
Patient selection: pancreatic cancer
Rate of suicide in this population was about 11 times greater than for the general population.
Risk factors for suicide:
(1) male gender (odds ratio 13.5)
(2) operative intervention (odds ratio 2.5)
(3) not married (odds ratio for married 0.3)
For patients who underwent surgery, there was a peak in suicides about 2 months after surgery.
Some factors that may contribute to the risk of suicide:
(1) severity of the pain
(2) ability to control the pain
(3) depression
(4) despair about prognosis (social nihilism)
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