Suicide in Relation to the Experience of Stressful Life Events: A Population-Based Study

Abstract

Stressful life events have been associated with high risk of suicidal behavior. The aim of this study was to examine whether persons who died by suicide in Denmark had more frequently been exposed to stressful life events, specifically divorce, death of a close relative, exposure to violence, and imprisonment, when compared to gender and age-matched controls. Data from Danish national registers were obtained for the period of 2000-2010 and a nested case-control design was applied. The association between exposure to stressful life events and suicide was examined using logistic regression analysis. In all, 7,115 suicides were identified during the 11 years of follow-up. For each of these, 20 age- and gender-matched controls were randomly selected (n = 142,300). Cases who died by suicide had an odds ratio of 9.3 (CI-95%: 7.8-11.0) of having been exposed to imprisonment five or more times when compared to controls. People who died by suicide had 1.5-fold (CI-95%: 1.3-1.6) higher risk of having experienced a divorce. Stressful life events, such as divorce and imprisonment, were more frequent in temporal proximity to the date of death among the suicide cases than for end of exposure for controls (p < .001 and p < .001, respectively). Our findings confirm that, using nationwide data, stressful life events are positively associated to subsequent suicide. Causal pathways linking the two may, however, be indirect.

The Role and Comparison of Stressful Life Events in Suicide and Suicide Attempt: A Descriptive-Analytical Study

“…Only a few studies have been carried out to assess the relationship between SLEs and risks of suicide, and this study is one of them on SLEs and suicide in Iran. Some other relevant studies have been conducted worldwide, including a study in China (18,19), a population-based study in Denmark (12), and a study in the USA (11). Also, most of the studies in western countries have examined SLEs in SAs (3,12,20), whereas the current study explored both suicide and SAs.…”

“…Some other relevant studies have been conducted worldwide, including a study in China (18,19), a population-based study in Denmark (12), and a study in the USA (11). Also, most of the studies in western countries have examined SLEs in SAs (3,12,20), whereas the current study explored both suicide and SAs. The same results were found in the present study and Paul and Wang studies in the USA (18,21), as well as in a meta-analysis study (22).…”

“…As mentioned, stressful life events (SLEs) as one of the main risk factors for SBs are increasing as a global prevalence, and often have been linked to impulsive SA (11)(12)(13). Individuals with a history of suicide or SA are at high risk for SLEs in their lifetime (11).…”

The association of religiosity with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in the United Kingdom

“…The present study included several control variables (e.g., sociodemographic, behavioural, and psychopathological factors) that have previously been reported to be associated with both religiosity and suicidality. Specifically, sex , age , ethnicity , income , marital status , employment , loneliness , social support , number of stressful life events , perceived stress , chronic physical conditions , smoking status , alcohol dependence , drug use , and common mental disorders were considered as control variables in this study.…”

The pattern of stressful life events prior to suicide among the elderly in rural China: a national case-control psychological autopsy study

“…These major stressful life events were reported to be high-risk factors for suicide through psychological strain [5][6][7]. A population-based study reported that those stressful life events are positively associated to suicide [8]. Stressful life events may increase the probability of people killing themselves.…”