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Cited by 180Suicide and Self-Harm StudiesGrief, Bereavement, and Mental HealthHomicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse

Midlife suicide risk, partner’s psychiatric illness, spouse and child bereavement by suicide or other modes of death: a gender specific study

Open access
Agerbo, Esben·2005·Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
DOI 10.1136/jech.2004.024950PMC PMC1733072
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Abstract

Study objective: To describe gender specific suicide rates associated with partner’s psychiatric disorder, loss of a spouse, or child by suicide or other causes, being a parent, and marital status. Design: Nested case-control study. Information on causes of death, psychiatric admission, marital status, children, and socioeconomic factors was obtained from routine registers. Setting: Denmark. Participants: 9011 people aged 25–60 years who committed suicide; 180 220 age-gender matched controls; 111 172 marital partners; 174 672 children. Main results: The suicide risk in women whose partner had been first admitted with a psychiatric disorder after 31 December two years earlier was 6.9 (95% CI 3.6 to 13.0), whereas their male counterpart experienced a risk of 3.9 (2.7 to 5.6); p value gender difference = 0.39. Men who had lost their partner by suicide or other causes of death experienced a suicide risk of 46.2 (18.3 to 116.4) and 10.1 (6.5 to 15.8), respectively; the analogous risk among women were about one third: 15.8 (6.6 to 37.4) and 3.3 (1.5 to 7.2), respectively. Child bereavement by suicide or other causes imposed an approximate twofold risk increase in their parents, whereas being a parent was protective in women. Except for widows (1.6, 1.2 to 2.0) and widowers (3.0, 2.3 to 3.9) the suicide risk associated with being separated (2.0, 1.8 to 2.3), divorced (1.8, 1.7 to 2.0), never married (1.4, 1.3 to 1.6), cohabitant (1.2, 1.1 to 1.3) was virtually the same in the two sexes. Conclusions: The suicide risk is associated with partner psychiatric illness. Conjugal bereavement is particularly indicative of suicide in men, and spousal suicide is particularly indicative of suicide. Child bereavement is associated with parental suicide, while being a parent is protective against suicide in women.

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  • Suicide risk is elevated in suicide-bereaved spouses, particularly men and mothers.

    “The inclusion of people bereaved by suicide in suicide prevention strategies is based on strong evidence from population registries that suicide risk is elevated in suicide-bereaved spouses [6,7], particularly men [6], and mothers [8].”

    From Support Needs and Experiences of People Bereaved by Suicide: Qualitative Findings from a Cross-Sectional British Study of Bereaved Young Adults (2018) · cites this paper as [6]

    The Results report elevated suicide risk after a spouse’s death by suicide in both women and men. They also report a higher rate in bereaved men than women, but say that difference was not statistically significant; the unqualified “particularly men” overstates the finding. The claim about mothers is cited to a different source ([8]), not this paper. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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  • Relationship difficulties, death of a partner, and death by suicide of someone close are precipitating events for suicide; for mothers, death by suicide of adult children is particularly relevant.

    “Such events include relationship difficulties (particularly separation or divorce), death of a partner, and death by suicide of someone close16 — in particular, for mothers, death by suicide of adult children.26”

    From Suicide (2020) · cites this paper as [16]

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Danmarks Statistik (Statistics Denmark). IDA-en integreret database for arbejdsmarkedsforskning (The Integrated Database for Longitudinal Labour Market Research). Copenhagen: Statistics Denmark Press, 1991.
  2. Centrale Personregister. The Civil Registration System in Denmark. Chapter 2. Historical background, 2003. http://www.cpr.dk.

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Authors
Agerbo, E.
Affiliations
Aarhus University (DK)
Corresponding author
Agerbo, Esben
ORCID
Agerbo, Esben
Venue
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2005-04-14
Volume
59
Issue
5
Pages
407-412
ISSN
  • 0141-7681 (ISSN-L)
  • 0143-005X
  • 1470-2738
DOI
10.1136/jech.2004.024950
PMC
PMC1733072
OpenAlex
W2079982813
Cited by
180
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 5
FWCI
8.87
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Scopus (Elsevier) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Stanley Medical Research Institute
  • National Research Foundation
  • Danmarks Grundforskningsfond
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
Keywords
suicide risk, midlife, death of a spouse, grief in children, parental suicide, marital status, gender differences, widowhood, suicide risk factors, Denmark, psychiatric hospital admissions, causes of death, socioeconomic factors, spouses, children of suicide victims, cohabitation, divorce, separation, never married, widows and widowers
MeSH terms
Adult, Mental Disorders, Bereavement, Denmark, Female, Hospitalization, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Parents, Regression Analysis, Risk Factors, Sex Factors, Suicide, Case-Control Studies, Marital Status, Spouses

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