Abstract
Background
Both individual and familial histories of mental illness are substantial risk factors for suicide in young people.
Aim
To explore suicide risk among adolescents and young adults according to detailed aspects of individual and parental psychiatric admission history.
Methods
A nested case–control study was undertaken using data from Danish population registers to include 4,142 suicide cases and 82,840 matched controls aged 9–35 years. Data were analyzed with conditional logistic regression.
Results
A history of hospitalized psychiatric illness was a strong risk factor for suicide in adolescents and young adults, and the effect of such a history was greater in females than males. The elevated risk peaked in the two periods immediately after admission and discharge for both sexes, and exceeded in females who had multiple admissions and in males who were diagnosed with schizophrenia, affective disorders or substance abuse disorders. At the same time, a parental psychiatric history constituted a substantial risk factor for suicide in young people, in particular, if having a mother admitted for psychiatric illness. The elevated risk associated with parental psychiatric history was greater in females than in males, and tended to be more prominent during the first few years after admission of a parent.
Conclusion
Prevention strategies should aim at improving treatment and care to young people with psychiatric problems and at providing social support and psychological consultation to children with parental psychiatric illness.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agerbo E, Nordentoft M, Mortensen PB (2002) Familial, psychiatric, and socioeconomic risk factors for suicide in young people: nested case–control study. BMJ 325(7355):74
Beautrais AL (2003) Suicide and serious suicide attempts in youth: a multiple-group comparison study. Am J Psychiatry 160(6):1093–1099
Brent DA (1995) Risk factors for adolescent suicide and suicidal behavior: mental and substance abuse disorders, family environmental factors, and life stress. Suicide Life Threat Behav 25(suppl 52–63):52–63
Clayton D, Hills M (1993) Statistical models in epidemiology. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Danmarks S (1991) IDA—en integreret database for arbejdsmarkedsforskning. Danmarks Statistiks trykkeri, København
Flouri E (2005) Psychological and sociological aspects of parenting and their relation to suicidal behavior. Arch Suicide Res 9(4):373–383
Houston K, Hawton K, Shepperd R (2001) Suicide in young people aged 15–24: a psychological autopsy study. J Affect Disord 63(1–3):159–170
SAS Institute Inc. (1999) The PHREG Procedure. SAS/STAT user’s guide, version 8. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, pp 2569–2657
Juel K, Helweg-Larsen K (1999) The Danish registers of causes of death. Dan Med Bull 46(4):354–357
Koplin B, Agathen J (2002) Suicidality in children and adolescents: a review. Curr Opin Pediatr 14(6):713–717
Mittendorfer-Rutz E, Rasmussen F, Wasserman D (2008) Familial clustering of suicidal behaviour and psychopathology in young suicide attempters. A register-based nested case control study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 43(1):28–36
Munk-Jorgensen P, Mortensen PB (1997) The Danish psychiatric central register. Dan Med Bull 44(1):82–84
Murphy GE (1998) Why women are less likely than men to commit suicide. Compr Psychiatry 39(4):165–175
Pedersen CB, Gotzsche H, Moller JO, Mortensen PB (2006) The Danish Civil Registration System. A cohort of eight million persons. Dan Med Bull 53(4):441–449
Portzky G, Audenaert K, van Heeringen K (2005) Suicide among adolescents. A psychological autopsy study of psychiatric, psychosocial and personality-related risk factors. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 40(11):922–930
Qin P (2003) The relationship of suicide risk to family history of suicide and psychiatric disorders. Psychiatr Times 20(13):62–63
Qin P, Agerbo E, Mortensen PB (2002) Suicide risk in relation to family history of completed suicide and psychiatric disorders: a nested case–control study based on longitudinal registers. Lancet 360(9340):1126–1130
Reigstad B, Jorgensen K, Sund AM, Wichstrom L (2006) Adolescents referred to specialty mental health care from local services and adolescents who remain in local treatment: what differs? Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 41(4):323–331
Roy A, Nielsen D, Rylander G, Sarchiapone M (2000) The genetics of suicidual behaviour. In: Hawton K, van Heeringen K (eds) The international handbook of suicide and attempted suicide. Wiley, Chichester, pp 209–221
Shiang J (1998) Does culture make a difference? Racial/ethnic patterns of completed suicide in San Francisco, CA 1987–1996 and clinical applications (in process citation). Suicide Life Threat Behav 28(4):338–354
Acknowledgments
This study was initiated during Miss Kirstina Stenager’s internship. Miss Stenager participated in study design, data analysis and interpretation, and prepared the first draft of the manuscript. Associate Professor Ping Qin supervised the study, made the final analysis of the data and finalized the manuscript. The authors thank Preben Bo Mortensen for his support.
Financial disclosure and conflict of interest.
There is no conflict of interest for this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stenager, K., Qin, P. Individual and parental psychiatric history and risk for suicide among adolescents and young adults in Denmark. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 43, 920–926 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-008-0385-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-008-0385-2