New research published in JAMA Network Open from USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Keck Medicine of USC, suggests that among all cancer survivors, male adolescents and young adults (AYA) have the highest rate of death by suicide. The study also reports that the number of suicide deaths in the AYA male cancer survivor group (ages 15–39) increased three-fold during the 21-year-study period. In 2021, one in 65 deaths among the group was attributed to suicide.
Suicide deaths have also increased for other cancer survivor groups, but the gap in suicide rates between young men and other populations significantly widened over time. Cancer is becoming more common among young people, and cancer survivors are more likely to struggle with anxiety, depression and thoughts of suicide, according to the American Cancer Society and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. This study, one of the first to examine suicide rates by gender for AYA patients with cancer, characterized the increasing suicide rate among this population as alarming.
Researchers used data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program to assess some 4.5 million deaths among cancer survivors between 2000-2021. A cancer survivor is defined as anyone who has ever been diagnosed with cancer, no matter where they are in the course of their disease.
They then divided the data according to three age groups: ages 15-39, 40-59, and sixty-plus, and further divided each gr.