Asthma and suicidal ideation and behavior among Puerto Rican older children and adolescents.

There is growing evidence of a positive association between asthma and suicidal ideation and behavior in the general community, although information on this potential association is scarce among adolescents and Puerto Ricans, groups at-risk for both conditions. Data came from wave three of the Boricua Youth Study, a longitudinal study of youth in the Bronx and San Juan conducted from 2000–2004. Logistic regressions for correlated data (GEE) were conducted with asthma predicting suicidal ideation and behavior among participants aged 11 years or older. After adjustment for survey design, age, gender, poverty, DSM-IV mental disorders, cigarette smoking, and stressful life events, asthma was positively associated with suicidal ideation and behavior among Puerto Rican adolescents. Public health interventions targeting Puerto Rican adolescents with asthma and future studies investigating potential biological and psychological mechanisms of association are warranted.