If being diagnosed with prostate cancer wasn’t enough reason for worry, research suggests that the worry itself may be as deadly as the disease for many sufferers. The research, which analysed data on 168,584 Swedish men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1961 and 2004, found that the men were at an increased risk of suffering a cardiovascular event and more likely to commit suicide soon after the diagnosis.Before 1987, prostate cancer patients were 11 times more likely to experience a fatal cardiovascular event in the week after diagnosis than men without prostate cancer.

The risk remained high in the year after diagnosis, with the risk about twice as high as that for men without the cancer.

After 1987 the risk of fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular events was three times as high in the week after diagnosis and slightly higher in the first year after diagnosis.While the overall suicide rate wasn’t high (136 out of nearly 170,000), it was 8.4 times higher in the week after diagnosis and 2.6 times higher in the first year. (Courtesy : nbr.co.nz)