Women with breast implants may have a higher-than-average rate of suicide, according to a recent Canadian study.

The large study included more than 40,000 women and found that while the suicide rate may be higher for those with breast implants, health risks such as breast cancer, heart disease and other diseases and illnesses are lower than average.

Doctors feel this correlation is the result of screening processes applied to the women before they undergo breast augmentation surgery.

Dr. Howard Morrison of the Public Health Agency of Canada in Ottawa, agrees.

“To some extent, what you’re seeing is a screening effect,” he said in a Reuters article.

Women who undergo elective surgery are generally in good health, leading to the finding that these women have lower-than-average rates of some illnesses. While these findings show that women who have undergone breast augmentation may have better-than-average health in some ways, they are also 73 percent more likely to commit suicide than those in the general population.

Poorer rates of self-esteem and higher rates of psychiatric disorders – including depression – have been found in groups of women with breast implants in previous studies, Morrison said.

This finding may account for the higher suicide risk observed through the study, which is based on data from 24,558 women who had breast implants between 1974 and 1989, and 15,893 women who had other plastic surgery during the same period.

The deaths were tracked through 1997 by the researchers.

Some at the University were not surprised by this new finding linking breast augmentation to increased suicide rates.

“Probably the people who have lower self-esteem are the people who are more likely to commit suicide, and these are the people who are more likely to get implants in the first place,” said Jane Rowden, a freshman from Stockbridge.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all, especially in our society where having a perfect body is essential to so many girls,” Rowden said.

“They don’t realize that self confidence has to come from inside you.”

Morrison said that while the risk is not dramatic, plastic surgeons may want to refer those seeking an augmentation for mental health consultation if they feel that the patient may be at a high risk for psychiatric disorder.