Comparing depression levels between relatives and friends of suicide

ObjectiveTo examine the depression levels of suicide survivors and to explore its causes and influencing factors.MethodsCompleted suicides were consecutively sampled and matched with living controls.Then,109 relatives and friends of the suicide and 128 those of living controls were compared for their CES-D levels and the influencing factors.ResultsThe CES-D scores of the suicide survivors were much higher than those of the controls'relatives and friends(P=0.000).The risk of suffering depression for suicide survivor was 4.685 times higher than that for the controls'relatives and friends;and there were statistical differences between the two groups in age,gender proportion,education,agreeableness dimension of personality,and average annual family income.However,only average annual family income was correlated with the CES-D score.Among suicide survivors,CES-D scores of suicides'parents and spouses were higher than others(P= 0.000,0.007).In the order of importance from high to low,the influencing factors were(1)neuroticism dimension of personality,(2)having lived with the suicide,(3)proximity in time of the suicide(measured in month).The odd ratios and 95% confidence intervals of those influencing factors were respectively:0.870(0.768～0.985),4.810(1.883～12.285),1.129 (1.048～1.216).ConclusionThe CES-D scores for suicide survivors are higher than those of the relatives and friends of living controls,and they are associated with suicide events and low income.Appropriate interventions may be exercised on suicide survivors to improve mental health status in China.