Patients with cancer are at increased risk of both unintentional and intentional injuries during the diagnostic process, according to a new study published online on 31 August in BMJ.
A team led by Qing Shen, a postgraduate student at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, found that the range of injuries are common, and some are potentially life-threatening.
Shen's group analyzed all injury-related hospital admissions in Swedish patients with cancer between 1990 and 2010, comparing a diagnostic period of 16 weeks before and after diagnosis with a control period the year before diagnosis. Among 720,901 patients, there were 7,306 injuries from medical complications and drug treatments and 8,331 injuries resulting from accidents and self-harm that required hospital admission, the team wrote.
The researchers found that patients with central nervous system cancers had a 14.7-fold risk increase and colorectal cancers had a 11.5-fold increase of medical-related injuries, which they attributed to "the higher degree of complications associated with more extensive diagnostic procedures and treatments" compared with other cancers. In addition, patients who were younger and of higher socioeconomic status or education also were at increased risk of injury, according to the group.
As for self-inflicted or accidental injuries, Shen's group found a 5.3-fold increase in risk during the two weeks before diagnosis. Patients with central nervous system, hematopoietic, and lung cancers had 2.8-, 2.8-, and 2.5-fold increases of risk, respectively, for self-harm and accidental injuries.
"Our study sheds light on the high-risk types of cancer and groups of patients, providing firsthand evidence for clinicians and policymakers to develop targeted prevention strategies," the team concluded.
