"Given that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for women ages 15-44, there is a need for further research on risk and opportunities for prevention," said Andrea C. Gielen, ScD, ScM, lead author of the study and deputy director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The researchers used data from Project WAVE (Women, AIDS and the Violence Epidemic) to examine the rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts, as well as to gauge anxiety and depression. They also set out to learn how these outcomes differed based on women's HIV and abuse experiences. The women were all living in low-income, urban neighborhoods in Baltimore, Md.
Of the 611 women interviewed, 31 percent reported having thought about suicide and 16 percent reported having attempted suicide. Abused women were four times more likely than non-abused women to have thought about suicide. The researchers also found that, among HIV-positive women, those recently diagnosed thought about suicide more frequently.
In addition, one-half of the study participants reported problems with depression and 26 percent reported problems with anxiety. Twenty-four percent of non-abused, HIV-negative women had problems with depression, whereas 72 percent of abused, HIV-positive women reported the same.
Abused, HIV-positive women were 7 times more likely to report problems with depression, 4.9 times more lik
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Contact: Kenna L. Lowe
paffairs@jhsph.edu
410-955-6878
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
22-Mar-2005