Long term follow up of suicide in a clinically depressed community sample

The purpose of this study was to examine how sex differences in suicide rates unfolded in a long-term follow up of patients who had been diagnosed with major depression.

Patients who were diagnosed with major depression in the Chichester/Salisbury Catchment Area Study were followed for 49 years. Recorded deaths from suicide were compared with rates that were predicted from historical data on suicide mortality rates from 1960 onwards.

An overall suicide rate of 3.4% was found in the present sample. Sixteen women and three men died from suicide. Women's suicide rates were significantly higher than the level predicted based on general population trends. Men showed a barely non-significant trend in the same direction. The diagnosis of clinical depression was associated more strongly with increased risk for suicide among women compared with men. Of the female suicides, 13 had been diagnosed with endogenous depression.

While suicide rates are significantly higher for men in the general population, and for depressed patients of both sexes, the depression may be a particularly strong predictor of suicide risk among women.

The dataset does not provide information about processes that mediate the relationship between depression and suicide mortality.