Suicide and depression in the male part of the Lundby study. Changes over time during a 25-year observation period.

In the Lundby study, 3,563 persons from a geographically delimited area in Sweden have been examined by psychiatrists on repeated occasions during a 25-year period. Mental disorders, personality traits, social factors, etc., have been recorded. Great efforts have been made to get sufficient outside information about the living as well as the deceased. During the observation period 28 persons, 23 men and 5 women, committed suicide. More than half of the suicide individuals had had a depressive disorder. The male part of the cohort has been studied concerning changes over time of prevalence of depression and age standardized rates of completed suicide. When the first 10-year period 1947-1957 was compared with the last 15-year period 1957-1972, the prevalence of depression was found to have increased over time, while the suicide rates had decreased among men in the Lundby cohort.