Summary
This is a report of new research on suicide attempts, based on an analysis of data from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area surveys in the United States. Risk of making a suicide attempt during a 1–2 year observation interval in the early 1980s was estimated in relation to selected personal and behavioral atributes of 13,673 study participants who completed baseline and follow-up interviews for these surveys. Being an active case of Major Depression was associated with increased risk of suicide attempt (estimated relative odds, RO=41; 95% CL=6.46–262), as was active alcoholism (RO=18; 95% CL=2.75–118) and being separated or divorced (RO=11; 95% CL=1.64–77). Being a user of cocaine was associated with increased risk of making a suicide attempt (RO=62; 95% CL=2.51–1528), but illicit use of marijuana, sedative-hypnotics, or sympathomimetic stimulants was not (P>0.30). Educational achievement was inversely associated with risk of suicide attempt at a marginal level of statistical significance (P=0.068). These multivariable conditional logistic regression results were obtained by applying a conventional epidemiologic strategy with poststratification of subjects into homogeneous risk sets. Limitations of the study data and the analytic strategy are discussed in relation to directions for future epidemiologic field surveys.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anthony JC (1984) Alcohol abuse and dependence as a risk factor across the adult male life span. In: Maddox G, Robins LN, Rosenberg N (eds) Nature and extent of alcohol problems among the elderly. NIDA Research Monograph 14, Washington, DC
Anthony JC (1988) The epidemiologic case-control strategy, with applications in psychiatric research. In: Henderson AS, Burrows GD (eds) Handbook of social psychiatry. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam
Anthony JC, Petronis KR (in press a) Epidemiologic evidence on suspected associations between cocaine use and psychiatric disturbances. In: Schade C, Schober S (eds) The epidemiology of cocaine use and abuse. NIDA Research Monograph, Washington, DC
Anthony JC, Petronis KR (in press b) Epidemiologic study of suspected risk factors for depression among adults 18–44 years old. Epidemiology
Anthony JC, Tien AY, Petronis KR (1989) Epidemiologic evidence on cocaine use and panic attacks. Am J Epidemiol 129: 543–549
Breslow NE, Day NE (1980) Statistical methods in cancer research, vol I. The analysis of case-control studies. World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France
Cottler IB, Zipp JF, Robins IN, et al. (1987) Difficult-to-recruit respondents and their effect on prevalence estimates in an epidemiologic survey. Am J Epidemiol 125: 329–339
Durkheim E (1897) Suicide. Translation Spaulding JA, Simpson G. The Free Press, New York (1951)
Dyck RJ, Bland RC, Newman SC, Orn H (1988) Suicide attempts and psychiatric disorders in Edmonton. Acta Psychiatr Scand [Suppl 338]: 64–71
Eaton WW, Kessler LG (eds) (1985) Epidemiologic field methods in psychiatry: the NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program. Academic Press, Orlando
Eaton WW, Regier DA, Locke BZ, Taube CA (1981) The Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program of the National Institute of Mental Health. Public Health Rep 96: 319–325
Eaton WW, Holzer CE, von Korff MR, Anthony JC, et al. (1984) The design of the ECA surveys: the control and measurement of error. Arch Gen Psychiatry 41: 942–948
Flanders WD, Louv WC (1986) The exposure odds ratio in nested case-control studies with competing risks. Am J Epidemiol 124: 684–692
Gomberg ESL (1989) Suicide risk among women with alcohol problems. Am J Public Health 79: 1363–1365
Guze SB, Robins E (1970) Suicide and primary affective disorder. Br J Psychiatry 117: 437–438
Hagnell O, Lanke J, Rorsman B (1981) Suicide rates in the Lundby study: mental illness as a risk factor for suicide. Neuropsychobiol 7: 248–253
Hawton K, Fagg J, McKeown SP (1989) Alcoholism, alcohol and attempted suicide. Alcohol Alcohol 24: 3–9
Hesselbrock M, Hesselbrock V, Zyzmanski K, Weidenman M (1988) Suicide attempts and alcoholism. J Stud Alcohol 49: 436–442
Kleinbaum DG, Kupper LL, Morgenstern H (1982) Epidemiologic research: principles and quantitative methods. Lifetime, Learning, Belmont
Korff MR von, Anthony JC (1982) The NIMH diagnostic interview schedule modified to record current mental status. J Affective Disord 4: 365–371
Korff MR von, Cottler L, George LK, Eaton WW, et al. (1985) Nonresponse and nonresponse bias in the ECA surveys. In: Eaton WW, Kessler LG (eds) Epidemiologic field methods in psychiatry: the NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program. Academic Press, New York, pp 85–98
Kreitman N (1988) Suicide, age and marital status. Psychol Med 18: 121–128
Liu IV, Anthony JC (1989) Using the “Mini-Mental State” examination to predict elderly subjects' completion of a follow-up interview. Am J Epidemiol 130: 416–422
Lowenstein DH, Massa SM, Rowbotham MC, et al. (1987) Acute neurologic and pschiatric complications associated with cocaine abuse. Am J Med 83: 841–846
Lubin JH, Gail MH (1984) Biased selection of controls for case-control analysis of cohort studies. Biometrics 40: 63–75
Miettinen OS (1985) Theoretical epidemiology: Principles of occurrence research in medicine. Wiley, New York
Miles CP (1977) Conditions predisposing to suicide: a review. J Nerv Ment Dis 164: 231–246
Moscicki EK, O'Carroll, P, Rae DS, et al. (1988) Suicide attempts in the Epidemiological Catchment Area Study. Yale J Biol Med 61: 259–268
Petronis KR, Anthony JC (1989) An epidemiologic investigation of marijuana-and cocaine-related palpitations. Drug Alcohol Depend 23: 219–226
Paykel ES, Myers JK, Lindenthal JJ, Tanner J (1974) Suicidal feelings in the general population: a prevalence study. Br J Psychiatry 124: 460–469
Platt, S, Kreitman N (1985) Parasuicide and unemployment among men in Edinburgh. 1968–1982. Psychol Med 15: 113–123
Sainsbury P (1986) The epidemiology of suicide. In: Roy A (ed) Suicide. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore
Schlesselman JJ (1982) Case-control studies: design, conduct, analysis. Oxford University Press, New York
Schwab JJ, Wharheit GJ, Holzer CE (1972) Suicidal ideation and behavior in a general population. Dis Nerv Syst 33: 745–748
Smith JC, Mercy JA, Conn JM (1988) Marital status and the risk of suicide. Am J Public Health 78: 78–80
Sperry K (1988) Suicide with, and because of, cocaine (letter). JAMA 259: 2995–2996
Stengel E (1964) Suicide and attempted suicide. Penguin, Baltimore
Storer BE, Crowley JC (1985) A diagnostic for Cox regression and general conditional likelihood. J Am Stat Assoc 80: 139–147
Tien AY, Anthony JC (in press) Epidemiological analysis of alcohol and drug use as risk factors for psychotic experiences. J Nerv Ment Dis
Weissman MM (1974) The epidemiology of suicide attempts, 1960 to 1971. Arch Gen Psychiatry 30: 737–746
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Petronis, K.R., Samuels, J.F., Moscicki, E.K. et al. An epidemiologic investigation of potential risk factors for suicide attempts. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 25, 193–199 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00782961
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00782961