 |
|
Short birth length more than doubles risk of violent suicide attempts
January 18, 2008Fetal and childhood growth and the risk of violent and non-violent suicide attempts: A cohort study of 318,953 men
Short male babies run more than double the risk of a violent suicide attempt as an adult, suggests a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Catch up growth during childhood does not lessen the impact of short stature at birth, the research shows.
The findings are based on almost 320,000 Swedish men out of a total of more than 713,000 people all born between 1973 and 1980.
Using national registers, they were tracked from birth to the date of attempted suicide, death, emigration, or the end of 1999, whichever came first.
Short babies of less than 47 cm in length, were more likely to attempt suicide as adults, no matter what height they reached in adulthood, compared with normal length babies.
Short birth length also more than doubled the risk of a violent suicide attempt as opposed to a non-violent one.
A violent suicide attempt was defined as hanging, the use of a firearm or knives, jumping from a height or in front of vehicles, and drowning.
Short stature in adulthood also boosted the risk.
Men who were normal length babies, but who were short in adult life were 56% more likely than tall men to attempt to take their own lives.
The taller a man was, the less likely he was to attempt suicide, the findings showed.
Men who were born underweight (under 2500 g), but who reached normal height were more than 2.5 times as likely to make a violent suicide attempt.
And those who were born prematurely, and therefore short and underweight, were more than four times as likely to attempt violent suicide as those born after 38 to 40 weeks of pregnancy.
The authors suggest that the brain chemical serotonin may be key. It is crucial to brain development and low levels are important in impulsivity, aggression, and suicidal behaviour.
Serotonin levels may be affected by premature birth and other factors restricting growth in the womb, they add.
BMJ-British Medical Journal
The findings are based on almost 320,000 Swedish men out of a total of more than 713,000 people all born between 1973 and 1980.
Using national registers, they were tracked from birth to the date of attempted suicide, death, emigration, or the end of 1999, whichever came first.
Short babies of less than 47 cm in length, were more likely to attempt suicide as adults, no matter what height they reached in adulthood, compared with normal length babies.
Short birth length also more than doubled the risk of a violent suicide attempt as opposed to a non-violent one.
A violent suicide attempt was defined as hanging, the use of a firearm or knives, jumping from a height or in front of vehicles, and drowning.
Short stature in adulthood also boosted the risk.
Men who were normal length babies, but who were short in adult life were 56% more likely than tall men to attempt to take their own lives.
The taller a man was, the less likely he was to attempt suicide, the findings showed.
Men who were born underweight (under 2500 g), but who reached normal height were more than 2.5 times as likely to make a violent suicide attempt.
And those who were born prematurely, and therefore short and underweight, were more than four times as likely to attempt violent suicide as those born after 38 to 40 weeks of pregnancy.
The authors suggest that the brain chemical serotonin may be key. It is crucial to brain development and low levels are important in impulsivity, aggression, and suicidal behaviour.
Serotonin levels may be affected by premature birth and other factors restricting growth in the womb, they add.
BMJ-British Medical Journal
Suicide Current Events and Suicide News RSSKeeping herpes infection in check: Pitt researchers describe immune system strategies
Herpes simplex virus type I can cause bouts of cold sores, blindness and potentially lethal encephalitis when it reawakens from a quiescent state in the nerve cells it infects.
Mentally ill smoke at 4 times the rate of general population, says University of Melbourne study
Australians with mental illness smoke at four times the rate of the general population, says a new study from the University of Melbourne.
When cells go bad
When a cell's chromosomes lose their ends, the cell usually kills itself to stem the genetic damage. But University of Utah biologists discovered how those cells can evade suicide and start down the path to cancer.
Adolescent insomnia linked to depression and substance abuse during adolescence and young adulthood
A study in the Oct. 1 issue of the journal Sleep shows that adolescent insomnia symptoms are associated with depression, suicide ideation and attempts, and the use of alcohol, cannabis and other drugs such as cocaine.
Researchers Investigate Impact of Stress on Police Officers' Physical and Mental Health
Policing is dangerous work, and the danger lurks not on the streets alone.
Personality can hamper a physician's assessment of depression
A physician's personality can affect practice behavior in inquiries about patient mood symptoms and the diagnosis of depression, according to a study led by University of Rochester Medical Center researchers.
Jefferson scientists deliver toxic genes to effectively kill pancreatic cancer cells
A research team, led by investigators at the Department of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, has achieved a substantial "kill" of pancreatic cancer cells by using nanoparticles to successfully deliver a deadly diphtheria toxin gene.
Cutting calories could limit muscle wasting in later years
Chemical concoctions can smooth over wrinkles and hide those pesky grays, but what about the signs of aging that aren't so easy to fix, such as losing muscle mass? Cutting calories early could help, say University of Florida researchers who studied the phenomenon in rats.
Monitoring outcomes of suicide attempts in pregnancy can better assess drug dangers
Monitoring the health of children born to women who attempted suicide while pregnant can shed light on which medicines and what doses are particularly dangerous to developing fetuses, according to researchers from Hungary who publish their findings in a series of reports in a special issue of Toxicology and Industrial Health, published this week by SAGE.
Older problem gamblers may face greater suicide risk than younger counterparts, study finds
Compared to their younger counterparts, older problem gamblers who ask casinos to bar them from returning are three to four times more likely to do so because they fear they will kill themselves if they don't stop betting, according to a new study.
More Suicide Current Events and Suicide News Articles
 | The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides In the tradition of Bright Lights, Big City and The Secret History comes a compelling, highly-acclaimed debut novel of youth and innocence. On the elm-lined streets of a middle-class American city, the lives of a group of teenaged boys are forever changed by their obsession with five mysteriously doomed... |
 | Suicide and Attempted Suicide by Geo Stone Too often attempted suicide leads to unintended consequences, because ignorance is deadly and desperation can be fatal. In this morally courageous book, Geo Stone sets out to diminish the lack of awareness about suicide, from the tragedy of teenage suicide to the debate over assisted... |
 | Suicide by Emile Durkheim Originally published in 1897, this is Durkheim's pioneering attempt to offer a sociological explanation for a phenomenon regarded until then as exclusively psychological and... |
 | The Book of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley Rabbits. We'll never quite know why, but sometimes they decide they've just had enough of this world- and that's when they start getting inventive. The Book of Bunny Suicides follows over one hundred bunnies as they find ever more outlandish ways to do themselves in. From an encounter with the business end of Darth Vader's lightsaber, to supergluing themselves to a diving submarine, to hanging... |
 | The Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order by Joan Wickersham When you kill yourself, you kill every memory everyone has of you. You’re saying “I’m gone and you can’t even be sure who it is that’s gone, because you never knew me.” Sixteen years ago, Joan Wickersham’s father shot himself in the head. The father she loved would never have killed himself, and yet he had. His death made a mystery of his entire life. Using an index—that most... |
 | Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King, The: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time by Michael Craig DESCRIPTION: In 2001, a Texas billionaire descended on the high-stakes poker room at the world famous Bellagio casino in Las Vegas. Challenging some of the best players in the world, including Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Howard Lederer, and Jennifer Harman, the result was a series of unforgettable poker games, including the final showdown--a single game with a jackpot of more than 20 million... |
 | No Time to Say Goodbye: Surviving The Suicide Of A Loved One by Carla Fine Bar Section for Master Catalog Rack Systems Heavy-duty system for displaying catalogs Use 45 racks for desktop viewing; use 30 racks for countertop viewing Securely holds catalogs for placement in racks. Use ring sections for punched, thin catalogs or loose pages. Section fits all Master desktop and countertop racks. 1 Capacity ... |
 | For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange From its inception in California in 1974 to its highly acclaimed critical success at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and on Broadway, the Obie Award-winning for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has excited, inspired, and transformed audiences all over the country. Passionate and fearless, Shange's words reveal what it is to be of color and female in the twentieth... |
 | Grieving a Suicide: A Loved One's Search for Comfort, Answers & Hope by Albert Y. Hsu Every seventeen minutes, someone in the United States dies by suicide. It is one of the most serious public health crises of modern times, claiming over one million lives worldwide every year. Those who have lost a loved one to suicide experience tremendous shock and trauma, with a confusing mix of emotions--anger, guilt, grief and despair. Suicide also raises heartrending questions: Why did... |
 | A Box of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley Rabbits. We’ll never quite know why, but sometimes they decide they’ve just had enough of this world. A Box of Bunny Suicides follows over two hundred bunnies as they find ever more outlandish ways to do themselves in. From an encounter with the business end of Darth Vader’s light saber to hiding under an elephant’s footstool, no stone goes unturned (or undropped, or uncatapulted) as... |
| © 2008 BrightSurf.com |