General

Prostate cancer linked to suicide, heart attack

Study shows patients need counselling after diagnosis

Men with prostate cancer are at higher risk of suicide and heart attack, especially within a year of their diagnosis. A study in a recent issue of Journal of the National Cancer Institute, based on 340,000 prostate cancer patients in the States between 1979 and 2004, shows that 148 men committed suicide and 6,845 died of cardiovascular diseases. The researchers say these findings represent “the tip of the iceberg of anxiety, mood disturbance, and perhaps other mental illness (or suffering) after a prostate cancer diagnosis.” They conclude that emotional counselling and support for prostate cancer patients is critical to their survival.

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