Managing suicidal ideation in a breast cancer cohort seeking reconstructive surgery

Global prevalence and factors associated with preoperative depression in women undergoing breast surgery: a meta-analysis and meta-regression

PURPOSE

Depression is one of the main psychological responses experienced by patients with breast cancer perioperatively. Therefore, this review aimed to synthesize the prevalence rate of depression preoperatively among patients with breast cancer.

METHODS

Six databases were searched for published articles, which recruited female patients aged 18 years and above, diagnosed with breast cancer and planned for breast surgery. Grey literatures were searched from ProQuest Theses and Dissertations, Science.gov and CogPrints. Studies published in English from the inception of databases to January 2023 were considered. Two reviewers screened, extracted, and appraised the data independently. Joanna Briggs Institute data collection form was used for data collection. Hoy's Risk of Bias Tool was utilized to assess the individual study's quality. Review Manager 5.4 software was utilized for meta-analysis. Subgroup analyses were conducted to explore the reasons for any heterogeneity. Publication bias was evaluated by Egger's test and funnel plot.

RESULTS

Twenty studies involving 32,143 patients with breast cancer were included. Meta-analyses revealed an overall preoperative prevalence of 30% among all studies. Subgroup analyses showed that studies conducted in the Middle East and North Africa used purposive sampling, with patients undergoing mastectomy and lumpectomy and with moderate risk of bias reported higher prevalence of preoperative depression (54%, 44%, 40%, and 49%, respectively) as compared to other respective subgroups.

CONCLUSION

The high prevalence of preoperative depression among women with breast cancer indicated the need for health care professionals to provide more psychological support to them.

Suicidal ideation in patients with cancer: Its prevalence and results of structural equation modelling

OBJECTIVE

Patients with cancer have a higher risk of suicidal ideation (SI) and suicidality than the general population. This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of SI and its association with psychosocial and sociodemographic factors and tumour entity.

METHODS

In this observational cross-sectional study, 4372 adult patients with different cancer entities were enrolled. We assessed the outcome variables (i.e. SI, depressive and anxiety symptoms, mental and physical fatigue and sociodemographic data) using self-report questionnaires. Data were analysed via descriptive statistics, binomial logistic regression and structural equation modelling (SEM).

RESULTS

Among all patients, 627 (14.3%) reported SI, of whom 12.8% reported SI on several days, 0.9% on half of the days and 0.6% nearly every day. Age, anxiety, mental fatigue and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 items 'feeling down, depressed and hopeless', 'feeling bad about oneself' and 'slowing or agitation' were significant predictors of SI. SEM, including all significant predictors with a latent depressiveness-demoralisation variable, explained 30.3% variance of SI, showing a good fit.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results showed that a significant number of patients with cancer show SI. Future long-term studies are needed to address the differential contribution of depression and demoralisation on SI in patients with cancer.

Factors Affecting Suicidal Thoughts in Breast Cancer Patients

Background and Objectives: Women diagnosed with breast cancer experience severe trauma. Psychological help for breast cancer patients is not sufficient because of limited professional resources. The goal of this study was to identify groups of breast cancer patients with the greatest suicidal risk, who could be the first target for psychosocial interventions. Materials and Methods: The study included 421 women with stage T1–T3/N0–N3/M0 breast cancer. We provided women with a set of questionnaires 1–2 days prior to breast surgery and one year after surgery. One hundred eighty-eight patients completed the questionnaires after one year. We used the Beck Depression Inventory Second Edition (BDI-II) item Suicidal Thoughts or Intentions for the assessment of suicidal risk. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) was used to measure the risk of PTSD and the Vrana–Lauterbach Traumatic Events Questionnaire-Civilian, TEQ-C (TEQ-CV) was used to measure whether patients had experienced other traumatic events in their lifetime. Results: The incidence of suicidal ideation one year after surgery increased from 4.3% to 12.8% of patients. Patients who lived in rural areas had a two times greater risk of suicidal thoughts than patients who lived in urban areas. Working patients were 2.5 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts prior to surgery. Severely traumatic events increased the chances of suicidal ideation (OR 7.72; 95% CI 1.63–36.6; p = 0.01). The symptoms of PTSD showed a threefold increase in the likelihood of suicidal ideation (OR 2.89; 95% CI 0.98–8.55; p = 0.05). Conclusions: Living in the countryside, having a history of traumatic experience, having a paid job and having symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder influence suicidal ideation in breast cancer patients. Particular attention should be drawn to individuals with multiple risk factors.

Suicidal ideation in patients with cancer: A systematic review of prevalence, risk factors, intervention and assessment

OBJECTIVES

Suicidal ideation (SI) underlies risk of death by suicide. It is well established that patients with cancer are at increased risk of death by suicide. Therefore, understanding SI in patients with cancer is critically important. The goal of this systematic review was to investigate the prevalence, risk factors, intervention, and assessment of SI in patients with cancer.

METHODS

This systematic review was registered with the PROSPERO database (CRD42018115405) and was guided by the PRISMA statement. We searched Medline, PsycInfo, Embase, CINAHL, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Cochrane Central. Two reviewers independently screened abstracts and assessed for quality assurance using a revised Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.

RESULTS

We identified 439 studies to screen for eligibility. Eligible studies included adults with cancer diagnoses and listed SI as an outcome. Ultimately, 44 studies were included in the analyses. Prevalence of SI ranged greatly from 0.7% to 46.3%. Single items drawn from validated measures were the most frequent method of assessing SI (n = 20, 45.5%); additional methods included validated measures and psychological interviews. Commonly identified risk factors for SI included age, sex, and disease/treatment-related characteristics, as well as psychological constructs including depression, anxiety, hopelessness, existential distress, and social support.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

Assessment of SI in patients with cancer is the concern of researchers worldwide. Prevalence of SI varied with study population and was likely influenced by the method of assessment. Psychological distress consistently predicted SI. Increasing awareness of demographic, clinical, and psychological associations is critical for risk assessment and intervention development.