Higher risk observed with aggressive or fatal diagnosis and during the first few years after diagnosis<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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THURSDAY, Jan. 18, 2024 (HealthDay News) — There is an increased risk for parental suicide attempt during the first years after a child’s cancer diagnosis, according to a study published online Jan. 16 in\u00a0PLOS Medicine<\/em>.<\/p>\n Qianwei Liu, M.D., Ph.D., from Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, and colleagues investigated the risk for suicide attempt and death by suicide in relation to having a child with cancer. The analysis included 106,005 parents with a child diagnosed with cancer in Denmark (1978 to 2016) or Sweden (1973 to 2014) and roughly 1.06 million matched unexposed parents.<\/p>\n The researchers found that during a median follow-up of 7.3 and 7.2 years for the exposed and unexposed parents, respectively, there was an increased risk seen for parental suicide attempt during the first years after a child’s cancer diagnosis (hazard ratio [HR], 1.15). Risk was even higher when the child was aged 18 years or younger at diagnosis (HR, 1.25), when the child was diagnosed with a highly aggressive cancer (HR, 1.60), or when the child died due to cancer (HR, 1.63). However, this increased risk did not persist over time thereafter.<\/p>\n “Our findings suggest extended clinical awareness of suicide attempt among parents of children with cancer, especially during the first few years after cancer diagnosis,” the authors write.<\/p>\n