Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T11:17:10.618Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prenatal and childhood antecedents of suicide: 50-year follow-up of the 1958 British Birth Cohort Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2013

M.-C. Geoffroy ,
D. Gunnell  and
C. Power
M.-C. Geoffroy
Affiliation:
MRC Centre of Epidemiology for Child Health/Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCL Institute of Child Health, London, UK McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
D. Gunnell
Affiliation:
School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
C. Power*
Affiliation:
MRC Centre of Epidemiology for Child Health/Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCL Institute of Child Health, London, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: C. Power, Ph.D., MRC Centre of Epidemiology for Child Health/Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

We aimed to elucidate early antecedents of suicide including possible mediation by early child development.

Method

Using the 1958 birth cohort, based on British births in March 1958, individuals were followed up to adulthood. We used data collected at birth and at age 7 years from various informants. Suicides occurring up to 31 May 2009 were identified from linked national death certificates. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were used to investigate risk factors.

Results

Altogether 12399 participants (n = 44 suicides) had complete data. The strongest prenatal risk factors for suicide were: birth order, with risk increasing in later-born children [ptrend = 0.063, adjusted hazard ratio (HR)], e.g. for fourth- or later-born children [HR = 2.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.90–5.75]; young maternal age (HR = 1.18, 95% CI 0.34–4.13 for ⩽19 years and HR = 0.41, 95% CI 0.19–0.91 for >29 years, ptrend = 0.034); and low (<2.5 kg) birth weight (HR = 2.48, 95% CI 1.03–5.95). The strongest risk factors at 7 years were externalizing problems in males (HR = 2.96, 95% CI 1.03–8.47, ptrend = 0.050) and number of emotional adversities (i.e. parental death, neglected appearance, domestic tension, institutional care, contact with social services, parental divorce/separation and bullying) for which there was a graded association with risk of suicide (ptrend = 0.033); the highest (HR = 3.12, 95% CI 1.01–9.62) was for persons with three or more adversities.

Conclusions

Risk factors recorded at birth and at 7 years may influence an individual's long-term risk of suicide, suggesting that trajectories leading to suicide have roots in early life. Some factors are amenable to intervention, but for others a better understanding of causal mechanisms may provide new insights for intervention to reduce suicide risk.

Keywords

Childhoodearly lifelife-course epidemiologylongitudinalrisk factorssuicide
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 44 , Issue 6 , April 2014 , pp. 1245 - 1256
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Björkenstam, E, Björkenstam, C, Vinnerljung, B, Hallqvist, J, Ljung, R (2011). Juvenile delinquency, social background and suicide–a Swedish national cohort study of 992,881 young adults. International Journal of Epidemiology 40, 1585–1592.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brezo, J, Paris, J, Vitaro, F, Hébert, M, Tremblay, RE, Turecki, G (2008). Predicting suicide attempts in young adults with histories of childhood abuse. British Journal of Psychiatry 193, 134–139.Google Scholar
Brock, A, Griffiths, C (2003). Trends in suicide by method in England and Wales, 1979 to 2001. Health Statistics Quarterly 20, 7–17.Google Scholar
Cavanagh, JTO, Carson, AJ, Sharpe, M, Lawrie, SM (2003). Psychological autopsy studies of suicide: a systematic review. Psychological Medicine 33, 395–405.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cheng, AT, Chen, TH, Chen, C-C, Jenkins, R (2000). Psychosocial and psychiatric risk factors for suicide: case–control psychological autopsy study. British Journal of Psychiatry 177, 360–365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cheung, YB (2002). Early origins and adult correlates of psychosomatic distress. Social Science and Medicine 55, 937–948.Google Scholar
Clark, C, Rodgers, B, Caldwell, T, Power, C, Stansfeld, S (2007). Childhood and adulthood psychological ill health as predictors of midlife affective and anxiety disorders: The 1958 British Birth Cohort. Archives of General Psychiatry 64, 668–678.Google Scholar
Conner, KR, Beautrais, AL, Brent, DA, Conwell, Y, Phillips, MR, Schneider, B (2011). The next generation of psychological autopsy studies. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 41, 594–613.Google Scholar
Dube, SR, Anda, RF, Felitti, VJ, Chapman, DP, Williamson, DF, Giles, WH (2001). Childhood abuse, household dysfunction, and the risk of attempted suicide throughout the life span findings from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. Journal of the American Medical Association 286, 3089–3096.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elander, J, Rutter, M (1996). Use and development of the Rutter parents' and teachers' scales. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research 6, 63–78.3.3.CO;2-M>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, T, Gillespie, K, McClelland, R, Patterson, C (1999). Risk factors for suicide independent of DSM-III-R Axis I disorder. Case–control psychological autopsy study in Northern Ireland. British Journal of Psychiatry 175, 175–179.Google Scholar
Geulayov, G, Gunnell, D, Holmen, T, Metcalfe, C (2012). The association of parental fatal and non-fatal suicidal behaviour with offspring suicidal behaviour and depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine 42, 1567–1580.Google Scholar
Gould, MS, Fisher, P, Parides, M, Flory, M, Shaffer, D (1996). Psychosocial risk factors of child and adolescent completed suicide. Archives of General Psychiatry 53, 1155–1162.Google Scholar
Gravseth, HM, Mehlum, L, Bjerkedal, T, Kristensen, P (2010). Suicide in young Norwegians in a life course perspective: population-based cohort study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 64, 407–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunnell, D, Bennewith, O, Simkin, S, Cooper, J, Klineberg, E, Rodway, C, Sutton, L, Steeg, S, Wells, C, Hawton, K (2013). Time trends in coroners' use of different verdicts for possible suicides and their impact on officially reported incidence of suicide in England: 1990–2005. Psychological Medicine 43, 1415–1422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gunnell, D, Lewis, G (2005). Studying suicide from the life course perspective: implications for prevention. British Journal of Psychiatry 187, 206–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gunnell, D, Löfving, S, Gustafsson, JE, Allebeck, P (2011). School performance and risk of suicide in early adulthood: follow-up of two national cohorts of Swedish schoolchildren. Journal of Affective Disorders 131, 104–112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gunnell, D, Magnusson, PKE, Rasmussen, F (2005). Low intelligence test scores in 18 year old men and risk of suicide: cohort study. British Medical Journal 330, 167–171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawton, K, Appleby, L, Platt, S, Foster, T, Cooper, J, Malmberg, A, Simkin, S (1998). The psychological autopsy approach to studying suicide: a review of methodological issues. Journal of Affective Disorders 50, 269–276.Google Scholar
Hawton, K, Saunders, KEA, O'Connor, RC (2012). Self-harm and suicide in adolescents. Lancet 379, 2373–2382.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawton, K, van Heeringen, K (2009). Suicide. Lancet 373, 1372–1381.Google Scholar
Jacobs, BS, Moss, HA (1976). Birth order and sex of sibling as determinants of mother–infant interaction. Child Development 47, 315–322.Google Scholar
Jefferis, BJMH, Power, C, Hertzman, C (2002). Birth weight, childhood socioeconomic environment, and cognitive development in the 1958 British birth cohort study. British Medical Journal 325, 305–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kposowa, AJ (2000). Marital status and suicide in the National Longitudinal Mortality Study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 54, 254–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levi, F, La Vecchia, C, Lucchini, F, Negri, E, Saxena, S, Maulik, PK, Saraceno, B (2003). Trends in mortality from suicide, 1965–99. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 108, 341–349.Google Scholar
Lundin, A, Lundberg, I, Allebeck, P, Hemmingsson, T (2012). Unemployment and suicide in the Stockholm population: a register-based study on 771,068 men and women. Public Health 126, 371–377.Google Scholar
Mann, J, Apter, A, Bertolote, J, Beautrais, A, Currier, D, Haas, A, Hegerl, U, Lonnqvist, J, Malone, K, Marusic, A, Mehlum, L, Patton, G, Phillips, M, Rutz, W, Rihmer, Z, Schmidtke, A, Shaffer, D, Silverman, M, Takahashi, Y, Varnik, A, Wasserman, D, Yip, P, Hendin, H (2005). Suicide prevention strategies: a systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Association 294, 2064–2074.Google Scholar
Mittendorfer-Rutz, E, Rasmussen, F, Wasserman, D (2004). Restricted fetal growth and adverse maternal psychosocial and socioeconomic conditions as risk factors for suicidal behaviour of offspring: a cohort study. Lancet 364, 1135–1140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mittendorfer-Rutz, E, Wasserman, D, Rasmussen, F (2008). Fetal and childhood growth and the risk of violent and non-violent suicide attempts: a cohort study of 318 953 men. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 62, 168–173.Google Scholar
Neeleman, J, Wessely, S, Wadsworth, M (1998). Predictors of suicide, accidental death, and premature natural death in a general-population birth cohort. Lancet 351, 93–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olds, D, Henderson, CR Jr, Cole, R, Eckenrode, J, Kitzman, H, Luckey, D, Pettitt, L, Sidora, K, Morris, P, Powers, J (1998). Long-term effects of nurse home visitation on children's criminal and antisocial behavior. Journal of the American Medical Association 280, 1238–1244.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Osler, M, Nybo Andersen, A-M, Nordentoft, M (2008). Impaired childhood development and suicidal behaviour in a cohort of Danish men born in 1953. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 62, 23–28.Google Scholar
Piquero, AR, Farrington, DP, Welsh, BC, Tremblay, R, Jennings, WG (2009). Effects of early family/parent training programs on antisocial behavior and delinquency. Journal of Experimental Criminology 5, 83–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Power, C, Elliott, J (2006). Cohort profile: 1958 British birth cohort (National Child Development Study). International Journal of Epidemiology 35, 34–41.Google Scholar
Riordan, D, Morris, C, Hattie, J, Stark, C (2012). Family size and perinatal circumstances, as mental health risk factors in a Scottish birth cohort. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 47, 975–983.Google Scholar
Riordan, DV, Selvaraj, S, Stark, C, Gilbert, JSE (2006). Perinatal circumstances and risk of offspring suicide. British Journal of Psychiatry 189, 502–507.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Séguin, M, Lesage, A, Turecki, G, Bouchard, M, Chawky, N, Tremblay, N, Daigle, F, Guy, A (2007). Life trajectories and burden of adversity: mapping the developmental profiles of suicide mortality. Psychological Medicine 37, 1575–1583.Google Scholar
Séguin, M, Renaud, J, Lesage, A, Robert, M, Turecki, G (2011). Youth and young adult suicide: a study of life trajectory. Journal of Psychiatric Research 45, 863–870.Google Scholar
Shaffer, D, Gould, MS, Fisher, P, Trautman, P, Moreau, D, Kleinman, M, Flory, M (1996). Psychiatric diagnosis in child and adolescent suicide. Archives of General Psychiatry 53, 339.Google Scholar
Sourander, A, Klomek, AB, Niemelä, S, Haavisto, A, Gyllenberg, D, Helenius, H, Sillanmäki, L, Ristkari, T, Kumpulainen, K, Tamminen, T, Moilanen, I, Piha, J, Almqvist, F, Gould, MS (2009). Childhood predictors of completed and severe suicide attempts findings from the Finnish 1981 Birth Cohort Study. Archives of General Psychiatry 66, 398–406.Google Scholar
Stott, D (1969). The Social Adjustment of Children. University of London Press: London.Google Scholar
Turecki, G, Ernst, C, Jollant, F, Labonté, B, Mechawar, N (2012). The neurodevelopmental origins of suicidal behavior. Trends in Neurosciences 35, 14–23.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Geoffroy Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Geoffroy Supplementary Material(File)
File 220.7 KB