Maternal or paternal suicide and offspring's psychiatric and suicide-attempt hospitalization risk.
OBJECTIVE
We examined whether the risk for psychiatric morbidity requiring inpatient care was higher for offspring who experienced parental suicide, compared with offspring of fatal accident decedents, and whether the association varied according to the deceased parent's gender.


METHODS
Children and adolescents (0-17 years of age) who experienced maternal (N = 5600) or paternal (N = 17,847) suicide in 1973-2003 in Sweden were identified by using national, longitudinal, population-based registries. Cox regression modeling was used to compare psychiatric hospitalization risks among offspring of suicide decedents and propensity score-matched offspring of accident decedents.


RESULTS
Offspring of maternal suicide decedents had increased risk of suicide-attempt hospitalization, after controlling for psychiatric hospitalization for decedents and surviving parents, compared with offspring of maternal accidental decedents. Offspring of paternal suicide decedents had similar risk of suicide-attempt hospitalization, compared with offspring of accident decedents, but had increased risk of hospitalization attributable to depressive and anxiety disorders. The magnitude of risks for offspring suicide-attempt hospitalization was greater for those who experienced maternal versus paternal suicide, compared with their respective control offspring (interaction P = .05; offspring of maternal decedents, adjusted hazard ratio: 1.80 [95% confidence interval: 1.19-2.74]; offspring of paternal decedents, adjusted hazard ratio: 1.14 [95% confidence interval: 0.96-1.35]).


CONCLUSIONS
Maternal suicide is associated with increased risk of suicide-attempt hospitalization for offspring, beyond the risk associated with maternal accidental death. However, paternal suicide is not associated with suicide-attempt hospitalization. Future studies should examine factors that might differ between offspring who experience maternal versus paternal suicide, including genetic or early environmental determinants.
Department of Mental Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
S Janet
SJ
Kuramoto
Elizabeth A
EA
Stuart
Bo
B
Runeson
Paul
P
Lichtenstein
Niklas
N
Långström
Holly C
HC
Wilcox
D000059:Accidents / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008426:Maternal Deprivation; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D010333:Paternal Deprivation; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D012737:Sex Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013548:Sweden; D055815:Young Adult