Differentiating the associations between sleep quality and suicide behaviors: A population-based study in China.

Abstract Background Although the association between sleep problems and suicidal behaviors were found in many studies, their associations are not built until now. One of the reasons may be the identified differences among different suicide behaviors, which also implied that sleep quality may play different roles on these suicidal behaviors. However, absent study explores the possible distinguishing associations between sleep quality and different suicidal behaviors. Methods This is a population-based study conducted in Hebei province, China. Totally, 21,376 valid questionnaires were analyzed in this study. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to evaluate sleep quality. Suicidal behaviors, living alone, and social-demographic variables were assessed for all the participants. Results The prevalence of suicidal ideation, plan, and attempt were 1.4%, 0.3%, and 0.2%, respectively. The PSQI scores were separately associated with suicidal ideation (OR=1.25, p 0.05 or OR=1.02, p>0.05). Limitations The cross-sectional design made us cannot get any causal relationships. The self-reported sleep quality may also produce some influence on the results. Conclusion The results imply us that improving sleep quality may be not effective to control further suicidal behaviors, when people have considered or planned to suicide. The findings also can be translated into the clinical and preventive practice for suicide control.