Trends in incidence and associated risk factors of suicide mortality in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Lung cancer patients have an increased risk for committing suicide. But no comprehensive study about the suicide issues among non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients has been published. We aimed to estimate the trend of suicide rate and identify the high-risk group of NSCLC patients. Patients diagnosed with primary NSCLC were identified from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database (1973-2013). Suicide mortality rate (SMR) were calculated. Multivariable logistic regression was employed to find out independent risk factors for suicide. Among 495 889 NSCLC patients, 694 (0.14%) of them died from suicide. The suicide mortality rates have significantly decreased (before 1993: 0.21%, 1994-2003: 0.16%, after 2004: 0.09%, P <60: OR 1.24, 95% CI: 1.03-1.50, P =.024, >75 vs <60: OR 1.31, 95% CI: 1.05-1.63, P =.018) were independently associated with higher risk of suicide mortality. Surgery (OR: 1.44, 95% CI: 1.19-1.73, P