Abstract

BACA GARCIA, Enrique  and  AROCA, Fuensanta. Suicide risk factors related to depressive and anxiety disorders. Salud Ment [online]. 2014, vol.37, n.5, pp.373-380. ISSN 0185-3325.

Introduction Suicide is among the most prevalent causes of death in the world. A history of past suicide attempts is the most important of all the risk factors to show suicidal behavior (attempts and completed suicides). The objective of this study is to assess the effect of anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, and comorbid major depression with anxiety on the risk for suicide attempts. Methods We recruited 505 patients with a history of suicide attempts and a control group of 277 patients without a history of suicide attempt from three hospitals in Madrid, Spain. We performed a logistic regression analysis using a progressive elimination method with the presence or absence of a history of suicide attempts as the dependent variable. As independent variables we included the diagnosis (anxiety, major depression, anxiety comorbid with major depression, and other diagnoses) and other risk factors for suicide attempts recognized in the literature. Results The regression model correctly classified more than 80% of the patients. Patients with depression (OR=3.4; CI 95%=1.8-4.8) and with anxiety-depression comorbidity (OR=4.3; CI 95%=2.4-7.8) had higher risk for suicide attempt compared to patients with other diagnoses. Patients without children had a higher risk for suicide attempt than those with children (OR=3.8; 95% CI=2.3-6.2), while patients with a family history of suicide had a higher risk than those without it (OR=2.2; 95% CI=1.1-4.5). Conclusions In clinical populations, the comorbidity of depression and anxiety is a higher risk factor for suicide attempts than having either condition separately or having other diagnoses. It also seems to be more important than other risk factors, such as family history

Keywords : Anxiety; depression; suicide; suicide attempt.