Updated Incidence of Suicide Among Patients With Head and Neck Cancer.
Head and neck cancer patients face nearly double the expected suicide rate.
Updated Incidence of Suicide Among Patients With Head and Neck Cancer.
To assess incidence, temporal trends, and risk factors for suicide among patients with HNC using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data.
A total of 222,222 patients were diagnosed with HNC from the SEER 17 registries between 2012 and 2021.
twice as many head and neck cancer patients die by suicide as expected
Suicide rates were highest among men (SMR, 2.23), unmarried individuals (SMR, 2.78), and patients with distant metastatic disease (SMR, 2.87).
Site-specific analysis showed elevated suicide risk for hypopharyngeal (SMR, 4.18) and laryngeal (SMR, 2.95) cancers.
Radiation-only treatment was associated with a higher suicide rate (SMR, 3.23), as was receiving no surgery or radiation (SMR, 5.39).
In some cancers, elevated suicide risk persisted beyond 10 years.
While there was an observed reduction in SMR relative to earlier cohorts, this should be interpreted cautiously given rising general-population suicide rates during the study period.
High-risk subgroups, including males, unmarried individuals, patients with cancer of the hypopharynx or larynx, and those receiving radiation alone or no definitive treatment, continue to face disproportionately elevated risk.