Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Nov 5;34(11):505-514.
doi: 10.2188/jea.JE20230280. Epub 2024 Jul 31.

Suicide Risk Among Patients With Cancer by Sex in Japan: A Population-based Study

Shinichi Kitagawa  1 , Tomotaka Sobue  1 , Ling Zha  1 , Toshitaka Morishima  2 , Yuko Ohno  3 , Isao Miyashiro  2
Affiliations

Suicide Risk Among Patients With Cancer by Sex in Japan: A Population-based Study

Shinichi Kitagawa et al. J Epidemiol. .

Abstract

Background: In Japan, few studies have examined suicide risk for 5-year relative survival rates for cancer sites. Since 5-year relative survival rates differ by sex, we aim to examine suicide risk for patients with cancer separately for men and women.

Methods: We estimated the risk of suicide among patients with cancer by sex in Japan compared to the general population, using standardized mortality ratios (SMRs). Patients with cancer diagnosed between January 1, 1985-December 31, 2013 and registered in the Osaka Cancer Registry were followed for up to 10 years. The outcome was suicide death. In addition, cancer sites were classified into three prognosis groups based on 5-year relative survival rates: good (>70%), moderate (40-70%), poor (<40%).

Results: Among 623,995 patients with cancer observed for 2,349,432 person-years, 1,210 patients died by suicide (867 men and 343 women). The SMRs were almost equal for men (1.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.55-1.77) and women (1.65; 95% CI, 1.48-1.83). SMRs for cancer prognosis groups were 1.01 (95% CI, 0.84-1.22) for men and 1.47 (95% CI, 1.24-1.73) for women in the good group, 1.53 (95% CI, 1.39-1.68) for men and 1.74 (95% CI, 1.47-2.05) for women in the moderate group, and 2.54 (95% CI, 2.27-2.85) for men and 1.87 (95% CI, 1.43-2.46) for women in the poor group.

Conclusion: In this population, both sexes had higher suicide risk with poor prognosis, but the difference in SMRs between the good and poor groups was smaller for women than men.

Keywords: epidemiology; neoplasm; prognosis; self-injurious behavior; social problem.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Flowchart of the study population. ICD-10, International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Standardized mortality ratio for cancer prognosis groups by sex. SMR, standardized mortality ratio.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Standardized mortality ratio for cancer site by sex. SMR, standardized mortality ratio.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.. Standardized mortality ratio for cancer stage by sex. SMR, standardized mortality ratio.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization. Suicide. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide; Accessed May 7, 2023.
    1. OECD Data Suicide rates. https://data.oecd.org/healthstat/suicide-rates.htm; Accessed May 7, 2023.
    1. Chang SS, Gunnell D, Sterne JA, Lu TH, Cheng AT. Was the economic crisis 1997–1998 responsible for rising suicide rates in East/Southeast Asia? A time-trend analysis for Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. Soc Sci Med. Apr. 2009;68:1322–1331. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.01.010 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Aihara H, Iki M. Effects of socioeconomic factors on suicide from 1980 through 1999 in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. J Epidemiol. 2002;12:439–449. 10.2188/jea.12.439 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan. Suicide in 2022. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/R4kakutei01.pdf; Accessed December 4, 2023 (in Japanese). P.3.