Immediate Risk of Suicide and Cardiovascular Death After a Prostate Cancer Diagnosis: Cohort Study in the United States

A cohort study of 342,497 American patients diagnosed with prostate cancer from January 1979-December 2004 was conducted. Follow-up started from the date of diagnosis to the end of the first 12 calendar months after diagnosis. The relative risks of suicide & cardiovascular death were calculated as standardised mortality ratios. During the follow-up, 148 men died […]

Re: Immediate Risk of Suicide and Cardiovascular Death After a Prostate Cancer Diagnosis: Cohort Study in the United States

In this letter to the editor, the authors comment on Fang et al’s 2010 study & report on their own study of the risk of suicide & cardiovascular death in Swedish males diagnosed with prostate cancer. Men diagnosed with advanced or metastatic prostate cancer are at increased risk of suicide, including posttraumatic stress symptoms & […]

Immediate Risk for Cardiovascular Events and Suicide Following a Prostate Cancer Diagnosis: Prospective Cohort Study

This study examined whether the emotional stress evoked by a prostate cancer diagnosis increases the immediate risks of cardiovascular events & suicide. A prospective cohort study was done by following all men in Sweden who were 30 years or older for a diagnosis of prostate cancer. Poisson regression models were used to caculate relative risk […]

Years of Potential Life Lost and Valued Years of Potential Life Lost in Asesssing Premature Mortality in Slovenia

This study examined the causes of death that contribute most to premature mortality in Slovenia, classified premature mortality according to cause of death, age, & gender, & determined the age point before which premature mortality became a potential loss to the society. Potential economic losses were estimated by use of years of potential life lost […]

Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest in Patients Aged 35 Years and Under: a 4-Year Study of Frequency and Survival in London

This study described the frequency & characteristics of cardiac arrest patients, 35 years & younger, attended by the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust between April 2003-March 2007. Data were analysed for 3084 patients & reported retrospectively. Over 75% of patients were aged 18-35 years. There were significantly more males in this age group compared to […]

Does Sickness Absence due to Psychiatric Disorder Predict Cause-Specific Mortality? A 16-Year Follow-Up of the GAZEL Occupational Cohort Study

The authors tested the hypothesis that psychiatric sickness absence predicts mortality from leading medical causes. Data were derived from the French GAZEL cohort study & administrative files & linked to mortality data from France’s national registry. Analyses were done using Cox regression models. Compared to workers with no sickness absence, those absent due to psychiatric […]

Cardiovascular Diseases Among Suiciders: a Population-Based Study in Northern Finland Population

The authors used a comprehensive database of all 2283 suicides in Northern Finland with information on all hospital-treated cardiovascular diseases & psychiatric disorders. Coronary artery disease was present in 7.7% & other cardiovascular diseases in 11.6% of victims. The likelihood of suicide for patients with hospital-treated coronary artery disease was etimated to be 2-fold compared […]

Alcohol, Drug Misuse and Suicide Attempts: Unrecognised Causes of out of Hospital Cardiac Arrests Admitted to Intensive Care Units

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Cardiovascular Drugs and the Risk of Suicide: a Nested Case-Control Study

The possible association between the use of cardiovascular drugs & suicide was investigated using population-based register data. A nested case-control study in Funen County, Denmark was performed. 743 suicides were identified for the period 1991-1998 & compared to 14,860 age- & gender-matched controls. Conditional logistic regression was used to analyze the data. The risk of […]

Blood Pressure and Risk of Death From External Causes Among men Screened for the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial

The authors examined data obtained from baseline interviews & 25 years of mortality follow-up (1973-1999) for 347,978 men screened for the American Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial. There were 3,910 deaths from external causes, including 2,313 unintentional injuries, 1,248 suicides, & 349 homicides. Men with stage 2 hypertension had multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios of 1.90 for […]

If Suicide is a Public Health Problem, What are we Doing to Prevent it?

Just as preventing heart disease once meant that specialists treated myocardial infarctions in emergency care settings, in the past decade, suicide prevention has been viewed as the responsbility of mental health professionals within clinical settings. By contrast, over the past 50 years, population-based risk reduction approaches have been used with varying levels of effectiveness to […]

Life-Time History of Suicide Attempts and Coronary Artery Disease in a Community-Dwelling Elderly Population

This study examined the relationship between coronary artery disease & life-time history of psychiatric disorder & suicidal behaviour in a representative sample of 1843 subjects over age 65. The prevalence of suicide attempts was 3.9%. A significant positive association was observed between life-time prevalence of coronary artery disease & suicide attempts. Suicide attempts were associated […]

Comparative Study of Mortality Rates and Cardiac Dysrhythmias in Post-Marketing Surveillance Studies of Sertindole and two Other Atypical Antipsychotic Drugs…

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An Integrated Community Model for Suicide Prevention: Lessons From Cardiac Care

The theme of this Conference was “Injuries, Suicide & Violence: Building Knowledge, Policies & Practices to Promote a Safer World”

Suicide Influences and Factors: Physical Illness (IN: Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, vol.2: L-Z, ed. by R Kastenbaum)

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A General Systems Approach to Suicide Prevention: Lessons From Cardiac Prevention and Control

This paper examines the development of a community cardiac care model, explores potential parallels for a community suicide prevention & control model, & outlines a general systems theory framework for a suicide prevention & control system. (38 refs)

Death Rate From Ischaemic Heart Disease in Western Australian Psychiatric Patients 1980-1998

This article investigated the association between mental illness & ischaemic heart disease hospital admissions, revascularisation procedures & deaths. A population-based record-linkage study of 210,129 users of mental health services in Western Australia indicated that ischaemic heart disease, rather than suicide, was the major cause of excess mortality in psychiatric patients. The author asserts that people […]

Pharmacological Provocation and Prevention of Suicidal Behaviour

At the same time as clinicians are being exhorted to prevent suicide by employing questionable treatment approaches, there has been simultaneous concern that use of psychotropic drugs might somehow provoke suicidal behaviour in a subgroup of vulnerable patients. This concern extends to areas outside psychiatry, relating for example to treatment with cardiovascular drugs & the […]

Health Effects of Serum Cholesterol Reduction: the Potential for Good and the Potential for Harm

Use of Calcium Channel Blockers and Risk of Suicide: Ecological Findings Confirmed in Population Based Cohort Study

A cross sectional ecological study was conducted based on rates of use of 8 cardiovascular drug groups in 152 Swedish municipalities. A cohort study included all inhabitants of 1 municipality. In the ecological study, the use of 7 of the cardiovascular drug groups correlated significantly & positively with suicide rates. In the cohort study, 5 […]

Clinical Perspectives on Primary and Secondary Prevention of Coronary Atherosclerosis

Coronary Artery Illness and Indirect Self-destructive Behavior (IN: The Many Faces of Suicide: Indirect Self-destructive Behavior, ed. by N L Farberow)

Cardiovascular Death & Manic-Depressive Psychosis