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Review
. 2025 Aug;60(8):1783-1797.
doi: 10.1007/s00127-025-02916-1. Epub 2025 May 9.

Prevalence of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and suicide deaths in people living with HIV: Are there differences between geographic locations or sexes? : An overview of systematic reviews with meta-analysis

Juan-Carlos Hernández-Rodríguez  1   2 , Marta Infante-Cano  3 , Cristina García-Muñoz  4   5   6 , Javier Matias-Soto  3   7 , Olga Villar-Alises  3   8 , Saul Pineda-Escobar  3   8 , Javier Martinez-Calderon  3   9   8   10
Affiliations
Review

Prevalence of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and suicide deaths in people living with HIV: Are there differences between geographic locations or sexes? : An overview of systematic reviews with meta-analysis

Juan-Carlos Hernández-Rodríguez et al. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2025 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Preventing suicide is an important clinical and research priority according to the World Health Organization across lifespan.

Objective: This study summarizes the prevalence of suicidal ideation, attempts, and suicide deaths among people living with HIV (PLWH) and explores geographic and sex-based differences in metaanalyses.

Methods: An overview of systematic reviews was conducted using CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, and PubMed, covering inception to 16th August 2024.AMSTAR 2 evaluated methodological quality, and review overlap was calculated.

Results: Twelve systematic reviews were included, with the highest overlap for suicide attempts in Africa (CCA = 13%). Meta-analyses showed pooled prevalence of suicidal ideation ranging from 13.8 to 22.1% in Africa, 27.1-30.1% in Asia, 33.7% in Europe, 14.3% in North America, and 27.5% in South America. Suicide attempts ranged from 3.7 to 12.5% in Africa, 3.6-11.2% in Asia, and 20.09% in the Americas. Among males, suicidal ideation prevalence was 40% in PLWH, suicide attempts 16.8%, and suicide deaths 1.5% PLWH. Among females, suicidal ideation was 32.8%, suicide attempts 29.0%, and suicide deaths 1.2% in PLWH.

Conclusion: Suicidal ideation and attempts are prevalent in PLWH, with notable geographic and sex-based differences.

Keywords: AIDS; HIV; Immunodeficiency; Overview; Review; Suicide.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests. Patient involvement statement: Not applicable.

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