A cross-sectional study on associations of physical symptoms, health self-efficacy and suicidal ideation among Chinese hospitalized cancer patients following diagnosis.

Abstract

Background: Epidemiological studies have shown elevated suicide risk in cancer patients compare with the general population. This study was performed to examine the association between physical symptoms and suicidal ideation among Chinese hospitalized cancer patients and test the modifying effect of health self-efficacy on this association. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 544 cancer patients from oncology settings in two general hospitals in northeast China via face-to-face interviews. Suicidal ideation was measured by using four items from the Yale Evaluation of Suicidality scale, dichotomized into a positive and negative score. Multivariable logistic regression was applied to examine the impact of physical symptoms, health self-efficacy and their interactions on suicidal ideation.Results: We found a suicidal ideation rate of 26.3% in patients following cancer diagnosis. Logistic regression showed that insomnia (aOR=1.84, 95% CI 1.13 to 3.00, p =0.015), lack of appetite (aOR=2.14, 95% CI 1.26 to 3.64, p =0.005) were positively associated with suicidal ideation, low health self-efficacy showed a marginally significant exaggerating effect on the association between pain and suicidal ideation (aOR = 2.77, 95% CI 0.99 to 7.74, p =0.053), even after controlling for significant socio-demographic, clinical characteristics and depression. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate the associations between insomnia、lack of appetite and suicidal ideation and highlight the potential moderating role of health self-efficacy in the identification and prevention of suicide among cancer patients.