The suicide rate among people with cancer has fallen in the last two decades, according to research published Jan. 19 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Researchers analyzed cancer-related suicide trends between 1999 and 2018 using the CDC's Multiple Cause of Death database.
Three study findings:
1. While overall suicide rates have steadily increased in the U.S., the age-adjusted cancer-related suicide rate has decreased by an average of 2.8 percent annually since 1999.
2. The most common diagnoses among cancer pateints who died by suicide were lung cancer (18.2 percent), prostate cancer (15.4 percent) and colorectal cancer (9.1 percent).
3. The biggest declines in cancer-related suicides occurred among patients who were over age 65, male, living in urban areas and diagnosed with prostate or lung cancer.
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