Incidence of suicide death in patients with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background Growing evidence indicated the higher risk of suicide in cancer survivors compared with general population. Our aim is to systematically quantify the extent of suicide death and identify risk factors associated with the incidence of suicide in cancer patients. Methods We conducted a meta-analysis of relevant studies published in English or Chinese before May 20, 2020. Suicide rate and the number of suicide death were extracted. Our main outcome was suicide rate per 100,000 person-years with 95% CIs using random-effects model. Results The pooled incidence of suicide death was 39.72 per 100,000 person-years (95%CI, 33.91-46.52, I 2= 99.6%, P  Limitations Included studies came from high-income countries and our results might not represent the suicide rate among cancer patients in low- and middle-income countries. Conclusions The incidence of suicide among cancer patients was high despite the declined trend recent years, which emphasized psychological health aspects of interventions and perfecting suicide prevention programs.