Psychosocial and psychiatric risk factors for suicide. Case-control psychological autopsy study.

BACKGROUND Few studies of suicide have simultaneously examined the individual and combined effects of psychosocial and psychiatric risk factors. AIMS To do so in a representative sample of suicides. METHOD A case-control psychological autopsy was conducted among 113 consecutive suicides and 226 living controls matched for age, gender, ethnicity and area of residence in Taiwan. RESULTS Five major risk factors (loss event, suicidal behaviour in first-degree relatives, ICD-10 major depressive episode, emotionally unstable personality disorder and substance dependence) were found to have independent effects on suicide from multivariate conditional logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS Effective intervention and management for loss event and major depressive episode among emotionally unstable subjects with a family tendency of suicidal behaviour, frequently also comorbid with alcohol or other substance dependence, may prove to be most effective for suicide prevention in different populations.

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