ArticlesSuicide risk in relation to family history of completed suicide and psychiatric disorders: a nested case-control study based on longitudinal registers
Introduction
Familial clustering of suicidal behaviours has been noted in studies of people who have committed1, 2, 3 and attempted4, 6 suicide. Results from studies of adopted children7 and twins8, 9, 10 have suggested that suicidal behaviour, in part, might be genetically transmitted. However, personality disorders are more prevalent in first-degree relatives of adolescents who have, rather than have not, attempted or committed suicide.5, 11, 12 Also, results from clinical studies of psychiatric patients have suggested that a family history of suicidal behaviour increases suicide risk independently of psychopathology.13, 14 However, whether suicidal behaviour in the general population is familially transmitted independently from psychiatric disorders is unclear. In this nested case-control study based on longitudinal registers, we aimed to assess completed suicide and admission to hospital for mental illness in parents and siblings as risk factors for suicide, to study whether these factors interact, and to control for psychiatric status and socioeconomic factors in people who have committed suicide. We also aimed to assess whether suicide clusters in families independently of familial clusters of psychiatric disorders.
Section snippets
Data sources
We obtained data from four Danish longitudinal registers. The cause of death register15 records the causes and dates of all deaths in Denmark; suicides were coded as E950-959 (ICD-8 [international classification of disease-Si)16 during 1969–93 and as X60–84 (ICD-10)17 afterwards. The Danish psychiatric central register18 includes all psychiatric inpatient facilities in Denmark, cumulatively records all admission and discharge information, and has been computerised since 1969. The IDA database,19
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