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Abstract
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Suicide may be considered one of the most catastrophic events, with social and emotional costs. It is a silent epidemic that compromises the lives of many people, the vast majority in their most productive years.
Recently, Fazel et al.2 demonstrated through a Swedish cohort that patients suffering from head trauma had mortality 3 times higher than the general population. Among the causes were suicide (odds ratio, 3.3), external causes (odds ratio, 4.3), and assaults (odds ratio, 3.9).2 From then on, new articles have been published, and the focus on suicide has been enhanced.
In this same context, Bethune et al.,6 in a Canadian sample, demonstrated that suicidal ideation occurs in 6.3% of patients in the first 3 months after a concussion, and is more evident in 6 months when 8.2% of patients presented this signal. When we exclude concussion and analyze all cranial traumas, suicidal ideation may reach 23% of cases.
To compile most of the studies that relate concussion to suicide, Fralick et al., in an elegant systematic review and meta-analysis that included more than 700,000 patients with concussion and 6.2 million individuals without a history of concussion, observed that the risk of suicide is twice as high in the concussion group.
People suffering from severe head trauma have well-documented suicidal ideation; however, people who are victims of concussion are underdiagnosed concerning suicide...
Language: en |