title: Does the level of education influence completed suicide? A nationwide register study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate whether education attainment was associated with completed suicide, a topic only marginally investigated in the literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for the years between 2006 and 2008 were extracted from the Italian Mortality Database to include all deaths by suicide and natural causes and to obtain information on their education attainment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found significant differences in education attainment between suicide victims and individuals deceased by natural causes, stratified by sex and broken down by age bands. Of both males and females from 15 to 64 years old, suicide victims were significantly more often to have a higher education attainment compared with the same sex and age counterparts died from natural causes. Persons with higher school attainment, compared with those with a maximum primary school degree, had significantly increased odds ratios of dying from a suicide rather than a natural cause. For persons aged 65-74 years or above, however, the differences were not so much obvious. These observations remained almost the same after adjustment for marital status, region of residence and age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Individual with higher educational achievement may be more prone to suicide risk when facing failures, public shame, and high premorbid functioning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Functions, Suicide Prevention Center, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. maurizio.pompili@uniroma1.it
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pompili
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vichi
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Innamorati
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Leo
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Girardi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult