How Dangerous are "Birthday Blues"?

Socioculturally meaningful events have been shown to influence the timing of suicide, but the influence of psychiatric disorder on these associations has seldom been studied. In a study recently published in Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, researchers investigate the association between birthday and increased risk of suicide in the general population and in a national sample of psychiatric patients. Using demographic methods comparing the 50,160 people who died in England and Wales between 1997 and 2006 and who had received either a coroner's verdict of suicide or undetermined death.  The researchers also compared general population suicides to suicides by individuals in recent care of mental health services with respect to day of death in relation to one’s birthday.  Using Poisson regression analysis, results showed that an increased risk of suicide was observed on day of one’s birthday itself for males in both the general population (IRR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.18–1.64, p < .01) and the clinical population (IRR = 1.48, 95% CI = 1.07–2.07, p = .03), especially for those aged 35 years and older. In the clinical population, risk was restricted to male patients aged 35–54 and risk extended to the 3 days prior to one’s birthday. The researchers concluded that birthdays are periods of increased risk for men aged 35 and older in the general population and in those receiving mental health care. Raising health-care professionals’ awareness of patient groups at greater risk at this personally significant time may benefit care planning and could facilitate suicide prevention in these individuals

For the abstract.