Risk of suicidal self-directed violence among survivors of head and neck cancer: A retrospective cohort analysis

Abstract

Head and neck cancer survivors (HNCS) suffer from high rates of chronic pain, substance use, and mental health comorbidities. HNCS have one of the highest rates of suicide among patients with cancer and are almost twice as likely to die by suicide compared to other cancer survivors. Among a national cohort of Veteran HNCS, we examined the associations between chronic pain, mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) diagnoses, and engagement in mental health services with risk of suicidal self-directed violence (SSDV), which included both suicide attempts and death by suicide.