Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2004 Jul 31;329(7460):261.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.38133.622488.63. Epub 2004 Jun 22.

Change in suicide rates for patients with schizophrenia in Denmark, 1981-97: nested case-control study

Merete Nordentoft  1 , Thomas Munk Laursen, Esben Agerbo, Ping Qin, Eyd Hansen Høyer, Preben Bo Mortensen
Affiliations

Change in suicide rates for patients with schizophrenia in Denmark, 1981-97: nested case-control study

Merete Nordentoft et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objective: To study the change in risk of suicide among patients with schizophrenia and related disorders.

Design: Nested case-control design with linked data.

Setting: 4 longitudinal Danish registers.

Participants: 18,744 people aged up to 75 years who committed suicide in 1981-97 individually matched with 20 controls.

Results: Over the time studied the reduction in suicide rate among patients with schizophrenia and schizophrenia spectrum disorder was similar to that seen in the general population (incidence rate ratio 1.00, 95% confidence interval 0.98 to 1.03). The reduction among patients with other psychosis in the schizophrenia spectrum was faster than the reduction seen in the general population. Among people admitted to hospital with schizophrenia the risk of suicide was highest in the first year after first admission, and the excess risk was largest in the younger age groups-that is, the risk decreased per year for every additional year of age.

Conclusion: The suicide rate among patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and related disorders has fallen. This may be due to better psychiatric treatment, reduced access to means of suicide, or improvements in treatment after suicide attempts.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Number of suicides per 100 000 inhabitants in Denmark, 1981-97
Fig 2
Fig 2
Incidence rate ratio for suicide in patients with schizophrenia and related disorders, relative to general population. Adjusted for age and sex
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Mortensen PB, Agerbo E, Erikson T, Qin P, Westergaard-Nielsen N. Psychiatric illness and risk factors for suicide in Denmark. Lancet 2000;355: 9-12. - PubMed
    1. Qin P, Agerbo E, Mortensen PB. Suicide risk in relation to socioeconomic, demographic, psychiatric, and familial factors: a national register-based study of all suicides in Denmark, 1981-1997. Am J Psychiatry 2003;160: 765-72. - PubMed
    1. De Hert M, Peuskens J. Psychiatric aspects of suicidal behaviour. In: Hawton K, Van Heeringen K, eds. The international handbook of suicide and attempted suicide. Chistester: Wiley, 2000: 121-34.
    1. Black DW, Warrack G, Winokur G. The Iowa record-linkage study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1985;42: 71-5. - PubMed
    1. Palmer BA, Pankratz VS, Bostwicj JM. The lifetime risk of suicide in schizophrenia: a reexamination. Am J Psychiatry (in press). - PubMed

Publication types