Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT12 6BJ, Northern Ireland.
Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2022 Apr 19;31:e25. doi: 10.1017/S2045796022000063.
Suicide is a major public health concern. Identifying those most at risk is vital to ensure the implementation of effective interventions. Mental health (MH) is known to have a genetic component and parental MH is associated with offspring MH. However, little is known about the effect of parental psychopathology on offspring suicide risk. The aim of this study is to determine if children living with parents with poor MH are at an increased risk of poor MH, or death by suicide.
This population-wide cohort study linked data from the 2011 Northern Ireland Census to 6 years' death records (2011-2016). Information on MH status, in addition to other individual and household-level attributes, was derived from the 2011 Census. Logistic regression was utilised to examine the association between parental poor MH and offspring MH and suicide risk, with adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics.
Overall, 11.6% of the cohort of 618 970 individuals were residing with parents who reported poor MH; 1.6% reported poor MH themselves, and 0.04% (n = 260) died by suicide. Living with a parent with poor MH increased the odds of offspring poor MH (OR = 2.80, 95% CI 2.59-3.03). After adjustment for age, gender, physical illness, socio-economic status and own MH, children living with 1 parent with poor MH were 76% more likely to die by suicide compared to children of parents who did not report poor MH (OR = 1.76, 95% CI 1.31-2.36). The effect size increased for children living with 2 parents with poor MH, and was higher in children aged under 24 years.
Living with a parent with poor MH is a significant risk factor for offspring poor MH and suicide, even after adjustment for personal MH status. When treating mental ill-health in parents, potential interventions for their children should also be considered.
自杀是一个重大的公共卫生问题。确定风险最高的人群对于实施有效的干预措施至关重要。心理健康（MH）已知具有遗传成分，并且父母的 MH 与后代的 MH 相关。但是，对于父母的精神病理学如何影响后代自杀风险知之甚少。本研究的目的是确定与 MH 状况不佳的父母一起生活的儿童是否有更高的 MH 状况不佳或自杀死亡的风险。
这项全人群队列研究将来自 2011 年北爱尔兰人口普查的数据与 6 年的死亡记录（2011-2016 年）相关联。除了其他个人和家庭层面的属性外，MH 状况的信息还来自 2011 年的人口普查。利用逻辑回归来检验父母 MH 状况不佳与后代 MH 和自杀风险之间的关联，并调整社会人口统计学特征。
总体而言，在 618970 名队列个体中，有 11.6%的人与其报告 MH 状况不佳的父母一起居住；1.6%的人自己报告 MH 状况不佳，0.04%（n=260）自杀身亡。与父母 MH 状况不佳的人一起生活会增加后代 MH 状况不佳的几率（OR=2.80，95%CI 2.59-3.03）。在调整年龄、性别、身体疾病、社会经济地位和自身 MH 后，与父母未报告 MH 状况不佳的孩子相比，与 1 位父母 MH 状况不佳的孩子自杀的可能性高 76%（OR=1.76，95%CI 1.31-2.36）。与父母均 MH 状况不佳的孩子相比，与 2 位父母 MH 状况不佳的孩子的效应大小增加，且 24 岁以下的孩子的效应更大。
与 MH 状况不佳的父母一起生活是后代 MH 状况不佳和自杀的重要危险因素，即使在调整了个人 MH 状况后也是如此。在治疗父母的心理健康问题时，也应考虑对其子女进行潜在的干预措施。
