HIV Seroprevalence Among Suicide Victims in New York City, 1991–1993

Abstract

The demographically adjusted proportion of suicide victims who were HIV positive (approximately 0.038 to 0.059), contrasted with the HIV seroprevalence estimates for the New York City general population (approximately 0.014 to 0.032), the absence of HIV-related pathology among suicide victims, and the likelihood that many HIV-positive individuals had other risk factors for suicide, such as substance abuse, suggests that a positive HIV serostatus is associated, at most, with a modest elevation in suicide risk.

Suicide mortality among people accessing highly active antiretroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS in British Columbia: a retrospective analysis

“…5 studies reported that advanced HIV disease is associated with a greater likelihood of suicide, 6,18,34 whereas others reported that disease progression or symptomatic disease is not associated with an increased risk of suicide. 17,18,[35][36][37] Our results showed that those patients who never had an AIDS-defining illness were more likely to die by suicide, which is consistent with a previous finding that 70% of the autopsies in patients with HIV infection who died by suicide showed no signs of AIDS-related disease. 17 This suggests that people living with HIV/AIDS with less graduated disease are at greater risk of suicide.…”

“…17,18,[35][36][37] Our results showed that those patients who never had an AIDS-defining illness were more likely to die by suicide, which is consistent with a previous finding that 70% of the autopsies in patients with HIV infection who died by suicide showed no signs of AIDS-related disease. 17 This suggests that people living with HIV/AIDS with less graduated disease are at greater risk of suicide. Within our No.…”

“…9,23 Third, public perception of HIV has evolved over time, leading to greater social acceptance of people living with HIV/AIDS and potentially contributing to reduced suicide rates in this population. People living with HIV/AIDS in BC may now be less exposed to established correlates of suicidality, such as stigma, marginalization and social exclusion, 9,15,[17][18][19][20][21] than at the start of the epidemic. Finally, improved access to facilities (e.g., the supervised injection site) may have reduced the number of accidental poisonings and improved access to psychiatric care may have helped to mitigate suicide behaviour, including suicidal thoughts, ideation and attempts, and prevent escalation to the most severe end of the spectrum, death by suicide.…”

“…17,25,26 Within the HOMER cohort, over a third of participants had a history of injection drug use, a behaviour known to often occur in the presence of concomitant mental illness, 27,28 and psychosocial and socioeconomic disparities. 25,29 It may be that compromised mental health becomes neglected in the face of injection drug use, HIV infection and more visibly apparent health concerns, therefore contributing to the exacerbation of suicide risk or suicidality.…”

Suicidal ideation and behaviour

“…However, Dannenberg et al (1996) found no increase in suicide risk during a median follow-up period of 17 months in HIV-positive applicants for service in the United States military. Marzuk et al (1997) found the proportion of New York City suicides who were HIV-positive (adjusted for demographic variables) was higher than the estimated proportion of HIV-positive individuals living in New York City. However, as the information was determined at autopsy, it was unknown whether all suicides were aware of their HIV status and whether they had other risk factors for suicide.…”