Risk Factors Associated with Attempted Suicide : A Case Control Study

This study was conducted to identify the risk factors associated with attempted suicide among people living in and around Pondicherry. Using a case control study design, 137 consecutive cases of attempted suicide admitted to Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, a teaching hospital in Pondicherry and an equal number of controls, matched individually with cases for age and sex, from the relatives and friends of the other patients, were studied. Variables related to socio demographic characteristics, family background, recent stressful life events, physical and psychiatric morbidity were analysed. The strength of association with the risk of attempt was calculated using odds ratio with 95% confidence interval. Odds ratios for the factors identified to be significantly associated with increased risk of suicide attempt were 15.82(95% CI 6.55-40) for unemployment, 3.02 (95%CI 1.78-5.14) for lack of formal education, 3.95 (95% CI 2.02-7.79) for the presence of stressful life events in the last six months, 3.12 (95%CI 1.37-7.24) for suffering from physical disorders and 6.78 (95% CI 2.39-2070) for suffering from idiopathic pain. Significant association was not revealed in respect to marital status, type of family, early parental losses, family history of suicide and presence of psychiatric morbidity.