Prostate cancer increased suicide risk

BOSTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- There was an increased risk of suicide and cardiovascular death after a prostate cancer diagnosis before prostate-specific antigen tests, U.S. researchers say.

Dr. Fang Fang of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston and colleagues analyzed data from more than 340,000 prostate cancer patients listed in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database from 1979-2004 and from the general population.

Their study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, said 148 patients died of suicide and 6,845 died of cardiovascular diseases. Increased risk of suicide was found during the first year after diagnosis, in particular the first three months.

The study found the risk of cardiovascular death was slightly elevated during the first year, especially in the first month and particularly among those with metastatic disease.

The elevated suicide risk was apparent before prostate-specific antigen testing and when it was first introduced in 1987, but not since PSA testing became widespread in 1993. The study authors say this observation is most likely due to the potentially lower degree of stress associated with the diagnosis of indolent -- slow to develop -- prostate cancer.

"We believe that suicide and cardiovascular death reflect only the tip of the iceberg of anxiety, mood disturbance and perhaps other mental illness after a prostate cancer diagnosis," the authors said in a statement.