Teenagers, young adults diagnosed with cancer at increased risk of suicide
A study of nearly eight million Swedes aged 15 and over found that among the 12,669 young people diagnosed with cancer between the age of 15 and 30 there was a 60% increased risk of suicide or attempted suicide. The risk was highest during the first year immediately after diagnosis when suicidal behaviour was 1.5-fold (150%) higher among the cancer patients compared with the cancer-free group. Dr Donghao Lu, a PhD student in the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden), said: "We found that there were 22 suicides among the cancer patients versus 14 expected and 136 attempts at suicide versus 80 expected. This equates to an extra 64 instances of suicidal behaviour among the 12,669 young cancer people…