Suicide in Relation to the Experience of Stressful Life Events: A Population-Based Study

TY - JOUR

T1 - Suicide in Relation to the Experience of Stressful Life Events

T2 - A Population-Based Study

AU - Fjeldsted, Rita

AU - Teasdale, Thomas William

AU - Jensen, Martin

AU - Erlangsen, Annette

PY - 2017/10/2

Y1 - 2017/10/2

N2 - Stressful life events have been associated with high risk of suicidal behavior. The aim of this study was to examine whether persons who died by suicide in Denmark had more frequently been exposed to stressful life events, specifically divorce, death of a close relative, exposure to violence, and imprisonment, when compared to gender and age-matched controls. Data from Danish national registers were obtained for the period of 2000–2010 and a nested case-control design was applied. The association between exposure to stressful life events and suicide was examined using logistic regression analysis. In all, 7,115 suicides were identified during the 11 years of follow-up. For each of these, 20 age- and gender-matched controls were randomly selected (n = 142,300). Cases who died by suicide had an odds ratio of 9.3 (CI-95%: 7.8–11.0) of having been exposed to imprisonment five or more times when compared to controls. People who died by suicide had 1.5-fold (CI-95%: 1.3–1.6) higher risk of having experienced a divorce. Stressful life events, such as divorce and imprisonment, were more frequent in temporal proximity to the date of death among the suicide cases than for end of exposure for controls (p < .001 and p < .001, respectively). Our findings confirm that, using nationwide data, stressful life events are positively associated to subsequent suicide. Causal pathways linking the two may, however, be indirect.

AB - Stressful life events have been associated with high risk of suicidal behavior. The aim of this study was to examine whether persons who died by suicide in Denmark had more frequently been exposed to stressful life events, specifically divorce, death of a close relative, exposure to violence, and imprisonment, when compared to gender and age-matched controls. Data from Danish national registers were obtained for the period of 2000–2010 and a nested case-control design was applied. The association between exposure to stressful life events and suicide was examined using logistic regression analysis. In all, 7,115 suicides were identified during the 11 years of follow-up. For each of these, 20 age- and gender-matched controls were randomly selected (n = 142,300). Cases who died by suicide had an odds ratio of 9.3 (CI-95%: 7.8–11.0) of having been exposed to imprisonment five or more times when compared to controls. People who died by suicide had 1.5-fold (CI-95%: 1.3–1.6) higher risk of having experienced a divorce. Stressful life events, such as divorce and imprisonment, were more frequent in temporal proximity to the date of death among the suicide cases than for end of exposure for controls (p < .001 and p < .001, respectively). Our findings confirm that, using nationwide data, stressful life events are positively associated to subsequent suicide. Causal pathways linking the two may, however, be indirect.

KW - death of close relative

KW - divorce

KW - exposure to violence

KW - imprisonment

KW - stressful life event

KW - suicide

U2 - 10.1080/13811118.2016.1259596

DO - 10.1080/13811118.2016.1259596

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 27849449

AN - SCOPUS:85006274834

SN - 1381-1118

VL - 21

SP - 544

EP - 555

JO - Archives of Suicide Research

JF - Archives of Suicide Research

IS - 4

ER -