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Risk of adolescent offspring's completed suicide increases with prior history of their same-sex parents' death by suicide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2013

C.-C. J. Cheng ,
W.-J. Yen ,
W.-T. Chang ,
K. C.-C. Wu ,
M.-C. Ko  and
C.-Y. Li
C.-C. J. Cheng
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, Fu-Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan
W.-J. Yen
Affiliation:
College of Nursing, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan
W.-T. Chang
Affiliation:
Department of Health Care Management, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Taipei, Taiwan
K. C.-C. Wu
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
M.-C. Ko*
Affiliation:
Department of Health Care Management, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Taipei, Taiwan Department of Surgery, Zhong-Xing Branch of Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan Institute of Public Health, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
C.-Y. Li
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
*
* Address for correspondence: M.-C. Ko, M.D., M.Sc., Department of Surgery, Taipei City Hospital, 145 Zheng Zhou Road, Taipei 103, Taiwan. (Email: mingchung77@gmail.com)
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Abstract

Background

To investigate the risk of completed suicide in offspring during adolescence in relation to prior history of the same-sex parent's death by suicide and other causes.

Method

A total of 500 adolescents who died by suicide at age 15–19 years between 1997 and 2007 were identified from the Taiwan Mortality Registration (TMR). For each case, 30 age- and time-matched controls were selected randomly from all adolescents registered in the Taiwan Birth Registry (TBR). A multivariate conditional logistic regression model was used to assess the risk of adolescent completed suicide in relation to their same-sex parent.

Results

Adolescent suicide risk was positively associated with both paternal [odds ratio (OR) 5.38, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.17–13.33] and maternal suicide (OR 6.59, 95% CI 1.82–23.91). The corresponding risk estimates associated with paternal and maternal deaths from non-suicidal causes were much lower, at 1.88 and 1.94 respectively. The risk of suicide in male adolescents was significantly associated with prior history of paternal death by suicide (OR 8.23, 95% CI 2.96–22.90) but not of maternal death by suicide (OR 3.50, 95% CI 0.41–30.13). On the other contrary, the risk of suicidal death in female adolescents was significantly associated with prior history of maternal suicide (OR 9.71, 95% CI 1.89–49.94) but not of paternal suicide (OR 2.42, 95% CI 0.30–19.57). However, these differences did not reach statistical significance.

Conclusions

Although limited by sample size, our study indicates that adolescent offspring suicidal death is associated with prior history of their same-sex parent's death by suicide.

Keywords

Adolescentcase–control studiesparentsuicide
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 44 , Issue 9 , July 2014 , pp. 1845 - 1854
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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