ETHNICITY, SOCIAL-FACTORS, ILLNESS AND SUICIDE - A FOLLOW-UP-STUDY OFA RANDOM SAMPLE OF THE SWEDISH POPULATION

The aim of this longitudinal study was to determine the influence of e thnicity, social factors and self-reported long-term somatic and psych iatric illness on suicide in a random sample of the Swedish population . The study is based on face-to-face interviews conducted between 1979 and 1985 with a random sample of the Swedish population consisting of 47 762 Swedish-born subjects and 4407 individuals born elsewhere. The sample has been followed via register data concerning cases of suicid e (suicides and undetermined deaths) until 31 December 1993. In total, 102 males and 46 females committed suicide prior to this date. Living alone and self-reported somatic illness with impaired health status w ere very strong risk factors for suicide, with risk ratios of 2.15 (CI , 1.51-3.05) and 1.80 (1.19-2.72), respectively. Ethnicity, defined as being born outside Sweden, had a risk ratio of 1.87 (1.18-2.97) in a model controlled for sex and age. However, this risk decreased with in creasing age in the final model. Furthermore, an increased risk of sui cide was found among female subjects living in rented flats and among male subjects irrespective of form of tenure, as well as among residen ts of large urban areas. Respondents with a self-reported long-term ps ychiatric illness with impaired health status also had a high risk of suicide, which decreased with increasing age. The main finding of this study is that somatic diseases and psychiatric disorders, which are k nown risk factors for suicide, may be revealed in surveys conducted by interviewers without medical training. Thus self-reported psychiatric and somatic illness appear to have a good potential for predicting su icide, even if the prevalence of psychiatric disorders is to some exte nt underestimated.