Suicide Risk Factors in Patients with Genitourinary Malignancies

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

Patients with genitourinary tumors, especially men, the elderly, and those with aggressive disease, are exposed to an increased number of suicide risk factors, according to an article published online in Cancer.

The study identified patients with prostate, bladder, kidney, testis, and penile cancer through the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (1988-2012). Odd ratios (ORs) were also calculated to determine associated suicide factors for each type of cancer.

Out of the 1,239,522 patients with genitourinary malignancies, 2,268 suicides were noted. The calculated standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for patients was 1.37 for prostate cancer (0.99-1.86), 2.71 for bladder cancer (2.02-3.62), 1.86 for kidney cancer (1.32-2.62), 1.23 for testis cancer (0.88-1.73), and 0.95 for penile cancer (0.65-1.35), each with a 95% confidence interval.

ORs were calculated for the association of male sex and suicide risk for patients with bladder and kidney cancer (6.63 and 4.98, respectively). For elderly patients with prostate, bladder, and testis cancer, their increasing age was also associated with suicide (OR range, 1.03-1.06).

The researchers concluded that African American patients with prostate, bladder, and kidney cancer were less likely to commit suicide than their male counterparts (OR range, 0.26-0.46).

The study suggests that clinicians be increasingly aware of the suicide risk in patients with genitourinary malignancies.