Association between Psychological Suffering and Suicidal Thinking in Patients with Urologic Cancer Using Real-World Data

Abstract

Cancer is a leading cause of death in Korea, and depression and suicide are major psychiatric problems in cancer patients. This study aimed to explore the correlation between anxiety, depression, social support, cancer state, and suicidality among urologic cancer patients. Sixty patients with urologic cancer were admitted to a university hospital between October 2019 and February 2020. The patients were evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, Suicidality module of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), and the Lubben Social Network scales (LSNS). To determine which psychological or demographic factors affected suicide risk, Fisher’s exact test, Wilcoxon rank-sum test, regression, and logistic regression were conducted. It was found that the greater the depressive symptoms, the higher the suicidal risk (OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.08–1.61). Furthermore, anxiety symptoms and the duration of cancer after diagnosis significantly increased depressive symptoms (p = 0.032). Clinicians should be able to identify the risk factors for suicide in patients with cancer, one of which is depression. To assess the risk of suicide, we must evaluate not only depressive symptoms but also the related anxiety and duration of the disease. Prevention and intervention efforts are needed to improve depressive moods and anxiety after cancer diagnosis.