Adults Surviving Pediatric Cancer Show an Increased Risk of Suicidal Thoughts Even Decades after the Illness
As a recent investigation undergone by researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute presents, adult people who suffered from cancer during their child years present a high probability of developing suicide thinking, even though many years passed since their therapies against cancer were finalized.
This research was released in the online edition Journal of Clinical Oncology and is soon expected to be released in a hard copy as well. Christopher Recklitis was the research team`s leading investigator. He is the research director of the Perini Family Survivors’ Center within the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, having as specialization psychology. The team of investigators was formed by: Lisa Diller, Xiaochun Li, Julie Najita, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Leslie Robison from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital located in Memphis and Lonnie Zeltzer from the Mattel Children’s Hospital within the University of California located in Los Angeles.
The funding for this investigation came from a grant offered by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The Childhood Cancer Survivor Study was funded by various grants offered by the National Cancer Institute.
The investigation stated that almost 8% of the adults who suffered from cancer during their childhood years and managed to counteract it have already pondered upon suicide and the means to do it. The persons who presented the highest risk of suicidal thoughts were those who suffered from cancer that affected either the brain or the nervous system complex. Another group of suicidal individuals was formed by those persons who were in a bad health state or who experienced various pains triggered by the cancer or those who presented negative side-effects after their treatment against cancer was concluded.
As the leading investigator of the research states, the doctors should understand the importance of the study in coming in the aid of those who have suicidal thoughts and to discover those who may reach this negative state. Moreover, it is essential in this matter to be able to relate the cases of adults who survived childhood cancers to their state of mind and to understand the risk of getting to unhealthy thoughts. Many of these cases can be treated.
The group of investigators focused on information gathered from a sample of 9,126 adults who survived childhood cancers. The people undergoing the study came from the CCSS (Childhood Cancer Survivor Study) which is a multi-organizational research that was coordinated by Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital located in Memphis. The Childhood Cancer Survivor Study was focused on analyzing the effects triggered by cancers and their counteracting therapies in the long-run.
The studied sample comprised patients that were 18 years old or even older. All of them were found suffering from cancer prior the age of 21 years and had been diagnosed with the malign disease minimum five years before undergoing the research. The majority of the sample population (8,464 patients) summing up 92.7% had been discovered to suffer from various types of cancer more than ten years prior and 2,564 patients who summed up 28.4% (more than a quarter of the studied population) had been found to suffer from cancer more than two decades prior to the study.
The Childhood Cancer Survivor Study also comprised a group formed by 2,968 people who represented the brothers or sisters closer to the age of the cancer suffering patients. The cancer survivors and this latter group were compared.
Recklitis and his team discovered that 7.8% of the people who survived their childhood cancer stated they had suicidal thinking. The control group formed by the patients` brothers and sisters reported only 4.5% regarding their thoughts on suicide. The adults who managed to survive the cancers affecting the brain and the CNS (central nervous system) registered the highest risk in developing suicidal thinking and recorded 10.6%. The persons who survived the non-Hodgkin lymphoma condition recorded 6.7% of generating suicidal thoughts. Even though the majority of the studied patients stated that they did not have suicidal thoughts, the fact that there is a minority of cases that reported suicide thinking represents a major problem, as Recklitis states. Taking into consideration that he is also an assistant professor in the Harvard Medical School in the Pediatrics department and in the Children’s Hospital Boston, dealing with these childhood cancer-related traumas is an important cancer survival issue.
The studied information did not present any connection between the gender and the age of the patients and their suicidal thinking. However, a link between the low incomes, education and unemployment and a negative state of mind was discovered. The adults who survived childhood cancers that did not marry or were no longer someone`s spouse presented a higher risk of pondering upon suicide.
Taking a closer look at the control group formed by the brothers and sisters of the patients, the age was considered to be related to the possibility of suicide among those siblings who were aged between 18 years and 24 years. However, this link regarded only this age span and no other age intervals.
Due to the therapies undergone in order to counteract childhood cancers, the surviving adults present the chance to suffer later in life from chronic health conditions. The team of investigators discovered that medical conditions in the adult surviving patients were in a strong relationship with their way of thinking of suicide. For instance, 28.8% of the adults who survived childhood malign diseases who presented bad health conditions also stated they had suicidal thoughts. In comparison, just 3.3% of the surviving adults who had a very good health condition stated that they pondered suicide ideation. Thus, the poor health condition of the surviving adults was related with suicidal thoughts just like were the chronic health conditions and their propensity and the pain associated with cancer. Even in the cases of adults who survived pediatric cancers and presented depression states, the physical state remained a decisive factor in the suicide ideation.
As the leading author of this research explained, the association between the physical condition of the patient and his suicidal thoughts comes with significant implications for the way pediatric cancer survivors should be taken care of from a medical point of view. Due to the fact that there are adults who survived childhood malign tumors who also present various chronic health conditions which need specialized care, the team of investigators state that the patients` constant utilization of medical care represents a chance to diagnose them with suicide ideation and come in their aid by providing them specialized psychological services.
Christopher Recklitis states that his team research`s outcomes should be seen as a significant pointer for medical doctors in making them aware of the problems the patients are confronted with. In the case of adults who survived pediatric cancers, additional chronic health conditions are in a strong relationship with the patients` emotional conditions. Even though the culture and health complex guide doctors in dealing physical and mental illnesses in different manners, there is an important need of an approach that comprises treatments for the additional health conditions cancer survivors experience after their therapies and the negative emotions that arise from these conditions.
