Stories You Probably Didn't Read in October: I

There were a number of important stories about cancer, breast cancer in particular, that were reported by the wire services in October but not picked up by magazines and newspapers.

The first of these was a report sent out by Reuters early in October that said that breast cancer survivors--SURVIVORS, not women living with the disease or in treatment--are at higher risk of suicide than other women.

This story seems to have fallen into a black news hole: No one I mentioned the story to, including medical oncologists who treat women with breast cancer, therapists, and other women living with cancer, had seen the story. I can only guess at the reasons, which would include an editorial reluctance to run a negative story during a month devoted to pink froth and feel-good stories about breast cancer, which is, after all, a pretty devastating disease, but not during October.

Reuters reported on October 6 that breast cancer survivors are 37 percent more likely to commit suicide than are other women. The report also said that the increased risk continues for at least 25 years after diagnosis. Reuters was reporting findings by Dr. Catherine Schairer, from the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland, and her colleagues originally published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The research was a population study that analysed data for 723,810 breast cancer survivors who were diagnosed between 1953 and 2001 in the United States and Scandinavia. During follow-up through 2002, a total of 836 women committed suicide, Reuters says.

What the research does not include is the why. Why did these women commit suicide?

I can understand that women might commit suicide at the time they are first diagnosed, or if they are living with a cancer that cannot be cured, but I was surprised to learn that survivors had such an increased risk of suicide.

I've asked several experts for their opinions, and I will also e-mail the authors of the study and see what they can add. Expect an update to this story in the next day or two.

Jeanne