Citation

Garssen J, Deerenberg I, Mackenbach JP, Kerkhof A, Kunst AE. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2011; 41(6): 585-593.

Affiliation

Joop Garssen and Ingeborg Deerenberg, Statistics Netherlands, The Hague; Johan P. Mackenbach, Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam; Ad Kerkhof, Department of Clinical Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, EMGO+ Institute; Anton E. Kunst, Amsterdam Medical Center.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1943-278X.2011.00050.x

PMID

21815914

Abstract

To determine familial risk of early suicide, data on cause of death of all Dutch residents aged 20-55 years who died between 1995 and 2001 were linked to data of their parents. Suicide odds ratio of men with father who died of suicide is 2.5 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.8-3.6) times as high as that of men with father who died of another cause. If mother died of suicide, odds ratio of men is 3.4 (2.3-5.0) times as high as that of men with mother who died of another cause. Odds ratios of female suicide victims are 2.2 (1.3-3.7; father) and 4.6 (2.6-8.0; mother) times as high, and increase with decreasing age at death of parent. Parental suicide is predictive for offspring suicide. Our data suggest that the predictive value in higher in case the mother committed suicide, particularly if the mother committed suicide at a young age.

Language: en