The author used national Danish population, employment, and health registers to obtain information on causes of death, admissions to psychiatric units, marital status, family size, and socioeconomic factors.

Women whose partner had first been admitted to a psychiatric unit within the preceding two years were almost seven times as likely to commit suicide as women with partners whose mental health was good. This was almost double the risk of men in the same circumstances, who ran nearly a fourfold risk.

But men who had lost their partner to suicide were 46 times as likely to commit suicide themselves. This was around three times the risk of women bereaved by suicide.

Men might be less likely to seek support, or have untreated or undetected mental illness, suggests the author, in a bid to explain the differences between the sexes.

Being separated or divorced roughly doubled the risk of suicide, but affected both sexes to the same extent. ]

The loss of a child through suicide or other causes roughly doubled the risk of suicide in both parents, although parenthood seemed to be a protective factor in women.

An accompanying editorial contends that "assortative mating" - like seeking out like - might account for the figures.

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Contact: Emma Dickinson
edickinson@bmj.com
44-207-383-6529
BMJ Specialty Journals
13-Apr-2005