Women with breast implants are three times more likely to commit suicide

According to a new study, women with breast implants were three times more likely to commit suicide or to die from drug or alcohol-related causes than other women.

Photo: Women with breast implants are three times more likely to commit suicide

And at least 22% of deaths among Swedish women with breast implants reflected psychiatric morbidity or a substance abuse or dependence disorder, reported Loren Lipworth, Sc.D., of Vanderbilt University Medical Center here, and colleagues. The cause is unlikely to be the silicone implants themselves, the authors acknowledged in the August issue of the Annals of Plastic Surgery, informs MedPage Today.

According to Herald and Weekly Times, deaths related to mental disorders, including alcohol or drug dependency, were also three times higher among women who had the cosmetic procedure, researchers said.

The risk was almost seven times higher for women who got breast implants at 45 or older, according to the study of 3527 Swedish women who had cosmetic breast implants between 1965 and 1993.

The report provided a bleak contrast to studies that showed women felt better about themselves after getting implants.

Senior author Joseph McLaughlin, a professor of medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said he believed many of the women had psychological problems before getting implants and that their condition did not improve.