Excess suicide risk and other external causes of death among women with cosmetic breast implants has been reported. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Excess suicide risk and other external causes of death among women with cosmetic breast implants: a neglected research priority.
Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2010 Jun ;12(3):234-8. PMID: 20425286
International Epidemiology Institute, 1455 Research Boulevard, Suite 550, Rockville, MD 20850, USA. [email protected]
Five large epidemiologic mortality studies of women with cosmetic breast implants have consistently reported a two- to threefold higher rate of suicide compared with the general female population. Overall, 135 suicides have been observed, compared with 66.9 expected, yielding a significantly elevated standardized mortality ratio of 2.0 (95% CI, 1.5-2.6). In addition to suicides, excesses from other external causes of death related to drug and alcohol abuse/dependence, atypical motor vehicle accidents, and other self-harm causes have been consistently reported. These observations, together with limited but direct epidemiologic evidence of preimplant psychiatric hospitalization, as well as self-reports of preimplant psychiatric disorders, including depression, eating disorders, and body image dissatisfaction, among implant women raise the possibility of significant underlying psychiatric morbidity for a subgroup of implant patients. Research into the psychiatric profiles and history of the women who have committed suicide in the investigated cohorts appears warranted.
