* astm si suicid

Asthma and suicide mortality in young people: A 12-year follow-up study
American Journal of Psychiatry, 07/20/2010

Kuo CJ et al. – The authors investigated the association between asthma and suicide mortality in a large population-based cohort of young people. These results highlight evidence of excess suicide mortality in young people with asthma. There is a need to improve mental health care for young people, particularly those with more severe and persistent asthma symptoms.

Methods

• Total of 162,766 high school students 11 to 16 years of age living in a catchment area in Taiwan from October 1995 to June 1996 enrolled in study of asthma and allergy
• Each student and his or her parents completed structured questionnaires
• Participants were classified into 3 groups at baseline: current asthma (symptoms present in the past year), previous asthma (history of asthma but no symptoms in the past year), and no asthma
• Participants were followed to December 2007 by record linkage to the national Death Certification System
• Cox proportional hazards models were used to study association between asthma and cause of death

Results

• Incidence rate of suicide mortality in participants with current asthma at baseline was more than twice that of those without asthma (11.0 compared with 4.3 per 100,000 person-years)
• No significant difference in incidence of natural deaths
• Adjusted HR for suicide was 2.26 (95% CI=1.43–3.58) in current asthma group and 1.76 (95% CI=0.90–3.43) in previous asthma group
• Greater number of asthma symptoms at baseline associated with higher risk of subsequent suicide
• Population attributable fraction was 7.0%.