Anniversary of Parent ’s Death Linked to Increased Suicide Risk in Some Adult Children

The anniversary of a parent ’s death appears to be associated with an increased risk of suicide among women, according to areport published today inJAMA Network Open.“In this case-crossover study using Swedish national register data, we found evidence of an anniversary reaction among women, with an increased risk of suicide most consistently observed during the 2-day period following the anniversary of a parent’s death. Among men, we observed a reduced risk of suicide around the anniversary,” wrote Alessandra Grotta, Ph.D., of Stockholm University and colleagues.Grotta and colleagues relied on linked data from 1990 to 2016 from multiple Swedish registers for the study. The researchers focused their analysis on adults aged 18 to 65 who had experienced the death of a parent and later died of suicide. With each adult in the study serving as his or her own control, the researchers compared the association between the anniversary of the parent ’s death and suicide with the association between periods before or after the anniversary of the parent’s death and suicide.The study included 7,694 individuals (2,255 of whom were women) who died by suicide. The median age at suicide was 55 years, and the median time between parental death and suicide was 7 years, the researchers noted.“There was evidence of an anniversary reaction among women, with a 67% increase in the odds of suicide when exposed to the period from the anniversary to 2 days after the anniversary, compared w...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: adults children death anniversary JAMA Network Open maternal death parental death suicide suicide prevention women Source Type: research