Citation

Salk L, Lipsitt LP, Sturner WQ, Reilly BM, Levat RH. Lancet 1985; 1(8429): 624-627.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1985, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2857957

Abstract

In an investigation of a possible relationship between falling perinatal mortality and rising rates of adolescent suicide, 46 risk factors from the prenatal, birth, and neonatal records of 52 adolescents who committed suicide before age 20 and 2 matched controls for each subject were analysed blind. The results showed statistically significant differences between the suicide victims and each of the controls and no difference between the controls. Three specific risk factors were shown to have a powerful capacity to differentiate the suicides from the controls: (i) respiratory distress for more than 1 h at birth; (ii) no antenatal care before 20 weeks of pregnancy; and (iii) chronic disease of the mother during pregnancy.

Language: en