Short birth length more than doubles risk of violent suicide attemptsJanuary 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
Related Suicide Current Events and Suicide News Articles Keeping 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 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||