Childhood Cancer Survivors May Experience Suicidal Thoughts As Adults
A new study claims that adult survivors of childhood cancer experience suicidal ideation at an increased rate, especially if they were experiencing ill mental or physical health. The study, published in the Oct 19 edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, compared 9,126 childhood cancer survivors to 2,968 of their siblings who had not had childhood cancer. 7.8 percent of childhood cancer survivors reported having suicidal thoughts, while only 4.6 percent of the sibling control group having suicidal thoughts.
How Does This Affect You?
If you are a childhood cancer survivor or know someone who is, it is important to receive follow-up care, as many adult survivors do not receive proper follow-up screenings. These medical evaluations are important, as they can identify and help to relieve any underlying symptoms or causes that may be related to suicidal thoughts. More studies certainly need to be done, but this study sheds light on childhood cancer survivorship and how treatment during childhood may affect patients into adulthood.
Hi! Do we have the cancer counselor or not? I do know that we have genetic counselor to deal with the genetic disorder. However, i’m not sure whether the cancer counselor can help so. The childhood cancer survivor should be given the counseling to prevent from any subsequent suicidal thought.
i had squamous cancer of the anis and after going thru the radiation and chemo i had surgery to remove all the dead tissue the radiation left and i ws left with a large hole in my bottom that you could put bothe fists in and you could see my tail bone i have been trying to heal from this for almost a year it is a slow process but i’m getting better all the time