Cancer patients face a sharply higher risk of suicide than the general population, but the strongest risk factors may be mitigated through increased screening for depression, expanded use of psychosocial and palliative care, and improved access to adequate health insurance, according to a recent study led by American Cancer Society researchers.
For more than a year before her stage 4 lung cancer was found, 35-year-old Alisa Secaida, a never-smoker and a physically active Southern Californian, had been experiencing a persistent cough and, increasingly, fatigue.
