Cosmetic Breast Surgeries Tied to Increased Suicide Risk

Underlying psychiatric trouble most likely to blame, researchers say.

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
Thursday, August 9, 2007; 12:00 AM

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THURSDAY, Aug. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Women who undergo cosmetic breast augmentation surgeries are three times as likely to commit suicide as those who don't have surgically enhanced breasts, a new study finds.

The increase in suicide risk does not emerge until about 10 years or more after women receive the implants, the research shows.

This latest study adds to a growing body of research finding that women with cosmetic breast implants are much more likely to take their own lives, said study lead investigator Loren Lipworth, a senior epidemiologist at the International Epidemiology Institute in Rockville, Md. "It's one of five studies that have consistently shown an increased risk of suicide among women with cosmetic breast implants," she noted.

There's nothing about the breast implant itself that leads to increased likelihood of suicide, added Lipworth, who is also an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. "Some women who get them are more likely to have psychiatric problems leading to suicide," she speculated.

The study is published in the August issue of Annals of Plastic Surgery

Breast augmentation was the most popular cosmetic surgery procedure in the United States in 2006, according to the latest statistics released by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. An estimated 329,000 breast augmentation procedures were performed, with the average surgeon charging about $3,600 per procedure, the society found.

In the most recent study, Lipworth's team tracked outcomes for more than 3,500 Swedish women who underwent cosmetic breast implant surgery in the years 1965 to 1993. They used death certificate information to analyze the causes of death among women with the implants and compared it to data for the general female population.

After a follow-up of almost 19 years, the suicide rate was three times higher for women with implants compared with the general population. There were 24 suicides in the implant group. The risk of suicide was nearly seven times higher for women who got their implants at age 45 or older, the researchers found.