Investigating the Characteristics of Suicide And its Relationship with Family History of Suicide

Background: Several factors contribute to suicide attempts. To date, no research has been conducted in Iran to explore the impact of a family history of suicide on suicide attempts. Objectives: This study aims to examine the characteristics of suicide and its association with a family history of suicide. Methods: This historical cohort study was carried out on individuals admitted to Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Taft and Shah Wali Hospital in Yazd for suicide attempts between 2018 and 2019. The study examined 73 individuals with a family history of suicide and 332 without such a history. It recorded demographic details, methods of suicide attempts, and family histories concerning the patients' mothers, fathers, and siblings. Data were collected and subsequently analyzed using specialized software. Results: The average age of the subjects was 28.02 ± 10.8 years, with 295 (72.8%) of the participants being women. There were no significant differences in mean income (P = 0.99), marital status (P = 0.06), gender (P = 0.35), place of residence (P = 0.06), and education level (P = 0.37) between individuals with and without a family history of suicide. Furthermore, our results indicated that the prevalence of mental illness was significantly higher in individuals with a family history of suicide (P < 0.001). The average number of suicide attempts was 1.05 ± 1.90 for those with a family history and 1.21 ± 0.50 for those without, a difference that was statistically significant (P = 0.002). The timing, method, and reasons for suicide attempts were not associated with a family history of suicide. Conclusions: A family history of suicide was associated with an increased number of suicide attempts. There was no correlation between family history and gender, occupation, place of residence, number of children, timing of suicide, method of suicide, reason for suicide, and educational status of the patients. However, a significant relationship was found between a family history of suicide and a history of mental illness among the patients, indicating a higher prevalence of mental illness in the group with a family history compared to those without.