Association between social support and suicidal ideation in patients with cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: To quantitatively examine the relationship between social support and suicidal ideation (SI) among patients with cancer and identify the moderators that influence the magnitude of this association.

Methods: Publications were searched in PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure from database inception to May, 2020. Correlation coefficients (r) were chosen as the effect size with a random model to evaluate the overall effect size between social support and SI in patients with cancer. To assess statistical heterogeneity, we examined potential moderator variables on the social support and SI.

Results: A total of 881 studies were identified in initial search, and twelve studies were eligible. A negative, small but significant correlation (r = -0.22, 95% CIs: -0.30,-0.14, p < 0.001) was observed between social support and SI in patients with cancer, with a significant heterogeneity (I² = 95.24%, Q = 231.27, p < 0.001). Moderator analyses indicated that race/ethnicity (Q(1) = 8.4, p < 0.05) and measurements of social support (Q(3) = 9.78, p < 0.05) and SI (Q(3) = 9.69, p < 0.05) significantly moderate the effect size between social support and SI.

Conclusion: Taken together, we found a negative yet significant association between social support and SI in patients with cancer, which supported the importance of social support for the prevention of SI in patients with cancer.

Keywords: cancer; meta-analysis; social support; suicidal ideation; systematic review.