Rates of suicides among women who received breast implants

This was a cohort study that followed 24,558 women who received cosmetic breast implants, and 15,893 women who underwent other types of cosmetic surgeries between 1974 and 1989.  Death information was obtained for these women up until the end of December 31, 1997 from the Canadian national mortality database. We compared mortality rates of women who received breast implants, and other cosmetic surgeries to rates for the female Canadian general population for 20 different causes of death. Mortality rates were also compared between the women who received breast implants and those who received cosmetic surgery.  Overall, women who received breast implants had lower overall mortality rates, and lower cancer mortality rates when compared to the general population. In contrast, the study found that women who received breast implants had a suicide rate that was 73% higher than the general population.
Women who underwent other cosmetic surgeries also had suicide rate that was 55% higher than the general population. No statistically significant differences in mortality were found between women who received breast implants and those who underwent other types of surgeries.  

This study is consistent with earlier work that shows elevated rates of suicides among women who received breast implants.
The study recommends that serious consideration be given to providing consultation for patients who are considered by the plastic surgeon to be at high risk of psychiatric disorder or suicide.

Bibliographic reference:

Villeneuve PJ et al.: "Mortality among Canadian women with cosmetic breast implants", Am J Epidemiol. 2006 Aug 15;164(4):334-41

Paul J. Villeneuve, Yang Mao

Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada