Stressful life events as proximal risk factors for a suicide crisis: Case-control study

Abstract

Introduction. Suicide is one of the main challenges worldwide. Every year 800,000 people die by suicide. There is evidence that life stressful events are associated to suicidal behaviour. Our aim in this case-control study is to explore their role as triggers of suicidal behaviour.

Methods. This case-control study was carried out in the Department of Psychiatry of the Fundación Jiménez Díaz. The case group consists of 320 adult patients treated in the Foundation service after an attempted suicide. The control group consists of 640 adult psychiatric patients treated for any other reason. The main variable has been the suicide attempt and the independent variable has been published in the last 6 months. To measure the occurrence of a SLEs in the last six months, we used the List of Threatening Experiences.

Results. Having experienced a SLEs was associated with a suicide attempt (RR = 1.475, 95% CI, p = 0.001). The specific SLEs that showed a statistically positive association were having broken a stable relationship, having personal problems with someone close to the environment and not finding a job or suffering a serious economic crisis.

Conclusions. Suffering an SLEs significantly increases the risk of suicide in the following 6 months. Having broken a stable relationship is presented as the most important. More studies are needed to explore the role of SLEs as precipitating factors of suicidal behaviour.