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Sustainable effects on suicidality were found for the Nuremberg alliance against depression

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Abstract

During an intense four-level community-based intervention program conducted in Nuremberg (490,000 inhabitants) in 2001 and 2002 [Nuremberg Alliance Against Depression (NAD)], the number of suicidal acts (main outcome completed + attempted suicides) had dropped significantly (−21.7%), a significant effect compared with the baseline year and the control region (Wuerzburg, about 290,000 inhabitants). To assess the sustainability of the intervention effects the number of suicidal acts was assessed in the follow-up year (2003), after the termination of the 2-year intervention. Also, in the follow-up year (2003), the reduction in suicidal acts compared with the baseline year in Nuremberg (2000 vs. 2003: −32.4%) was significantly larger than that in the control region (P = 0.0065). The reduction was even numerically larger than that of the intervention years (2001, 2002). Thus, 1 year after the end of the main intervention, preventive effects on suicidality of the NAD remain at least stable. The four-level intervention concept appears to be cost-effective and is presently implemented in many European regions.

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Acknowledgments

This project was made possible through a Grant by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and conducted within the German Research Network on Depression and Suicidality. We also would like to thank the Bavarian State Office for Statistics and Data Processing for providing us with necessary data on completed suicides. We would like to thank Professor Felber for his advice on the study design and all those engaged in the data assessment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstr. 10, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Ulrich Hegerl, Roland Mergl & Inga Havers

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Julius-Maximilian-University Wuerzburg, Füchsleinstr. 15, 97080, Wuerzburg, Germany

    Armin Schmidtke

  3. Hospital for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Prof.-Ernst-Nathan-Str. 1, 90419, Nuremberg, Germany

    Hartmut Lehfeld & Günter Niklewski

  4. Praxis for Psychotherapy, Hermann-Stockmann-Str. 18, 85221, Dachau, Germany

    David Althaus

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  1. Ulrich Hegerl
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  2. Roland Mergl
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  4. Armin Schmidtke
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  7. David Althaus
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Correspondence to Ulrich Hegerl.

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Hegerl, U., Mergl, R., Havers, I. et al. Sustainable effects on suicidality were found for the Nuremberg alliance against depression. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 260, 401–406 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-009-0088-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-009-0088-z

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