In Case You Haven't Heard…

Abstract

The anniversary of a parent's death appears to be associated with an increased risk of suicide among women, according to a report in JAMA Network Open, the American Psychiatric Association's Psychiatric News Alert announced April 11. “In this case‐crossover study using Swedish national register data, we found evidence of an anniversary reaction among women, with an increased risk of suicide most consistently observed during the two‐day period following the anniversary of a parent's death. Among men, we observed a reduced risk of suicide around the anniversary,” wrote Alessandra Grotta, Ph.D., of Stockholm University and colleagues. Grotta and colleagues relied on linked data from 1990 to 2016 from multiple Swedish registers for the study. The researchers focused their analysis on adults aged 18 to 65 who had experienced the death of a parent and later died of suicide. Although the loss of a parent during childhood has received attention in previous research, bereavement following the loss of a parent experienced during adulthood has been largely overlooked,” Grotta and colleagues wrote. “These findings suggest that families and social and health care professionals need to consider anniversary reactions in suicide prevention among adults who have lost a parent, especially bereaved women.”