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Cited by 409Suicide and Self-Harm StudiesEmployment and Welfare StudiesWorkplace Health and Well-being

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 32 of the 32 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Long-Term Unemployment and Suicide: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

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Milner, Allison, Page, Andrew, LaMontagne, Anthony D.·2013·PLoS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0051333PMC PMC3547020
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Abstract

PURPOSE: There have been a number of reviews on the association+ between unemployment and suicide, but none have investigated how this relationship is influenced by duration of unemployment. METHOD: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted of those studies that assessed duration of unemployment as a risk factor for suicide. Studies considered as eligible for inclusion were population-based cohort or case-control designs; population-based ecological designs, or hospital based clinical cohort or case-control designs published in the year 1980 or later. RESULTS: The review identified 16 eligible studies, out of a possible 10,358 articles resulting from a search of four databases: PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Scopus and Proquest. While all 16 studies measured unemployment duration in different ways, a common finding was that longer duration of unemployment was related to greater risk of suicide and suicide attempt. A random effects meta-analysis on a subsample of six cohort studies indicated that the pooled relative risk of suicide in relation to average follow-up time after unemployment was 1.70 (95% CI 1.22 to 2.18). However, results also suggested a possible habituation effect to unemployment over time, with the greatest risk of suicide occurring within five years of unemployment compared to the employed population (RR = 2.50, 95% CI 1.83 to 3.17). Relative risk appeared to decline in studies of those unemployed between 12 and 16 years compared to those currently employed (RR = 1.21, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.33). CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that long-term unemployment is associated with greater incidence of suicide. Results of the meta-analysis suggest that risk is greatest in the first five years, and persists at a lower but elevated level up to 16 years after unemployment. These findings are limited by the paucity of data on this topic.

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Figure 1 Search strategy following PRISMA guidelines.
Figure 1 Search strategy following PRISMA guidelines.CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 2 Forest plot of suicide risk following unemployment, follow up over time, results of meta-analysis. Reference is the employed population.
Figure 2 Forest plot of suicide risk following unemployment, follow up over time, results of meta-analysis. Reference is the employed population.CC BY · PubMed Central

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. 2012, Stata Release 12.1, College Station, Texas StataCorp LP
  2. Greenland S (1998) Meta-analysis. In: Rothman KJ, Greenland S, editors. Modern epidemiology. 2nd ed. ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott-Raven. pp. 643–673

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Metadata

Authors
Milner, A., Page, A., & LaMontagne, A. D.
Affiliations
  • The University of Melbourne (AU)
  • The University of Queensland (AU)
Corresponding author
Milner, Allison
ORCID
Venue
PLoS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2013-01-16
Volume
8
Issue
1
Pages
e51333
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0051333
PMC
PMC3547020
OpenAlex
W2085632436
Cited by
407
References
32
Citations by year
2026: 36 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 39 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 6
FWCI
3.17
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Medical Research Council
  • National Health and Medical Research Council (546248)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Employment and Welfare Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Workplace Health and Well-being
Keywords
long-term unemployment, suicide, suicide attempts, unemployment duration, suicide risk factors, habituation effect
MeSH terms
Humans, Risk Factors, Suicide, Suicide, Attempted, Time Factors, Unemployment

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