BMJ  2004;329 (31 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7460.0-c

Suicide rates in people with schizophrenia have declined

Though suicide rates in people with schizophrenia declined over 20 years, they are stillmore likely to commit suicide than others of the same age and sex. Reviewing 18 744 people from Denmark who committed suicide between 1981 and 1997, Nordentoft and colleagues (p 261) found that the rate of suicide in the general population had declined, and so had the rate among people with schizophrenia. The reduction may be due to better psychiatric treatment, less access to the means to commit suicide, and better treatment of suicide attempts, say the authors—but the risk of suicide among people with schizophrenia is still 20 times higher than that in the general population.

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Change in suicide rates for patients with schizophrenia in Denmark, 1981-97: nested case-control study

Merete Nordentoft, Thomas Munk Laursen, Esben Agerbo, Ping Qin, Eyd Hansen Høyer, and Preben Bo Mortensen
BMJ 2004 329: 261. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]