Compared to the general population, the suicide risk among Danish cancer patients diagnosed in 1971 -1986 was increased by 50% for men and 30% for women. We updated the earlier study to evaluate both long-term and recent trends in the suicide risk. Cancer patients with a first cancer diagnosed between 1971 and 1999 in Denmark were followed-up for completed suicide through 1999. Excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer, 564 508 cancer patients were included and 1241 suicides observed. Both the standardised mortality ratio (SMR) of suicide relative to the general population and the suicide rates were analysed with Poisson regression methods. The overall SMR was increased to 1.7 (95% CI. 1.6 -1.9) for men and 1.4 (95% CI: 1.3 -1.5) for women. Following the cancer diagnosis, the suicide risk was highest in the first 3 months for men and between months 3 and 12 for women. The risk was higher for nonlocalised cancer and for cancers with perceived poor prognosis. Breast cancer patients had a higher risk than other cancer patients with similar good prognosis. The suicide rates among cancer patients decreased with calendar time, but less so than the rates in the general population. The suicide risk among cancer patients has not decreased as much as in the Danish population and reasons for this should be explored. Breast cancer might be believed by patients to be more life threatening than it is. Assessment and treatment of depression could improve the quality of life for cancer patients who suffer from unrecognised depressions and in turn reduce the risk of suicide in cancer patients. British Journal of Cancer (2005) Somatic disease is a well-documented risk factor for completed suicide. Using register-based data, a 1.3 -3 times increased suicide risk has been found among cancer patients in many countries (Louhivouri and Hakama 1979;Fox et al, 1982;Allebeck et al, 1989;Levi et al, 1991;Storm et al, 1992;Harris and Barraclough, 1994;Crocetti et al, 1998;Tanaka et al, 1999;Miccinesi et al, 2004). Studies on suicides in cancer patients have suggested that suicide risk is inversely correlated with time since diagnosis, increased with advanced cancer stage, higher for men than women, and varying with cancer site and age.With 13 more years of incidence and follow-up, our study almost doubles the earlier study (Storm et al, 1992), which covered the risk of suicide and other violent deaths among 296 331 Danish cancer patients diagnosed in the period 1971 -1986. Compared to the general Danish population, the observed 568 suicides represented increased suicide risks of 50% for men and 30% for women; risk was higher with nonlocalised cancers, and it increased by calendar time.We conducted a detailed register and population-based cohort study among Danish cancer patients diagnosed and reported to the Danish Cancer Registry in the years 1971 -1999. MATERIALS AND METHODSAll cancer patients identified in the Danish Cancer Register (Storm et al, 1997) with a first cancer, excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer, in the period 1971 -1999, were follo...

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More suicides than expected (standardized mortality ratio=1.3; 95% confidence interval=1.1-1.6) compared to the population risk were found among Danish women with a diagnosis of non-melanoma skin cancer in the period 1971-1999 but not among men. The increased risk might be associated with a different personality type in this cancer group.

Background During the last decades, social and life-style changes in Greenland have led to an increase in the incidence of several non-communicable diseases. Our aim is to present the cancer incidence and mortality in Greenland and compare the results with the other Nordic countries. Methods The data stems from The Danish Cancer Registry and The Danish Register of Causes of Death. Comparable data on cancer incidence and mortality in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Greenland are available through collaboration between Nordic Cancer Registries (NORDCAN). We included all individuals residing in Greenland and diagnosed with or died of a cancer from 1983 to 2014. Findings The total number of cancer cases in Greenland for the study period was 4716 and there were 3231 cancer deaths. Respiratory and gastrointestinal cancers had the highest incidence as well as mortality in Greenland for the entire time period and for both sexes. Compared to the other Nordic countries, Greenland had significantly higher incidence and mortality rates for several cancers. Cancer of the lip, oral cavity, and pharynx, respiratory cancer, and cancer of unknown sites had the highest incidence rate ratios (2.3–3.9) and mortality rate ratios (2.7–9.9) for both sexes. The time trend from 1983 to 2014 showed a significant increase in cancer incidence in Greenland with nearly the same incidence level as the other Nordic countries. While the cancer mortality decreased in the other Nordic countries during the time period studied, there was no change in the cancer-specific mortality in Greenland. Interpretations The trends in cancer incidence and mortality in Greenland compared to the other Nordic countries have not been reported earlier. These data underline a need to focus on cancer-specific mortality in Greenland and prevention of high-incidence cancers related to well-established risk factors.

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