Older, single white males with advanced bladder cancer have the highest suicide risk among those with other cancers of the male genitals and urinary system, researchers report.
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From Medical Express
Older white males with advanced bladder cancer more likely to commit suicide
the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:
Older white males with advanced bladder cancer are the most likely to commit suicide among patients with genitourinary cancers, according to a recent study published in Cancer.
Zachary Klaassen, MD, of the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University and fellow researchers looked through the NCI’s SEER database from 1988 to 2010 and identified 1.2 million patients with cancer of the prostate, bladder, kidney, testes, and penis. They examined variables such as age, sex, race, as well as the aggressiveness of both the disease and treatment.
Their findings stressed suicide as a matter of public concern that requires physician awareness among men with genitourinary cancers. In particular, patients who were older, male and have more aggressive disease were found to be the most likely to commit suicide.
“The older, white, single male is already at higher risk in the general society for suicide,” Dr. Klaassen said. “Add on the fact that he has advanced bladder cancer and this is a high-risk patient. But this has taught me that we have to look for warning signs in all these patients.”
