ArticlePsychological medicine2011
Familial clustering of suicide risk: a total population study of 11.4 million individuals.
Article in Psychological medicine, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 91 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
91 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 195 citations in OpenAlex.
- Quantitative Methods to Detect Suicide and Self-Harm Clusters: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- A systematic review of studies describing the influence of informal social support on psychological wellbeing in people bereaved by sudden or violent causes of death.BMC psychiatry · 2020Pooled it
- Association of suicidal behavior with exposure to suicide and suicide attempt: A systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis.PLoS medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Loss of human life by suicide - lived experiences of suicide survivors and professionals.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2026Article
- Lifetime substance use disorder and suicidal behaviour: a population-based familial co-aggregation register study.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Elucidating psychosocial outcome profiles as a function of aggregate genetic risk for suicide attempt and alcohol use disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Pursuing the elusive biosignature for suicide: a decennial update.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Suicide risk genes impact evolutionarily conserved survival strategies.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Suicide risk among individuals admitted to an acute psychiatric ward: clinical characteristics, attachment pattern and dignity perception.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Suicide Behavior as a Distinct Psychobiology in Major Depression.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Association between self-esteem and suicide risk in adolescents from five schools in northern Peru: A cross-sectional study.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Article
- Suicide prediction, prevention, and the blame culture: A narrative review based on trends in mortality rates.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Review
- Mortality Risk Following a Household Suicide.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Suicide risk genes impact evolutionarily conserved survival strategies.Research square · 2025Article
- Metabolic syndrome increases the risk of suicide attempt: evidence from a population-based cohort and genomic analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- The roles of adverse childhood experiences and genetic liability in risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors: A factor analytic approach.Journal of affective disorders · 2025Article
- Review
- Epigenetics and suicidal behavior in adolescents: a critical review.Epigenomics · 2025Review
- Supporting Adolescents Bereaved by Sibling Suicide: A Review of Needs, Gaps, and Opportunities.Current pediatrics reports · 2025Review
- Mortality Awareness: New Directions.Omega · 2024Article
31 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundResearch suggests that suicidal behaviour is aggregated in families. However, due to methodological limitations, including small sample sizes, the strength and pattern of this aggregation remains uncertain.
methodWe examined the familial clustering of completed suicide in a Swedish total population sample. We linked the Cause of Death and Multi-Generation Registers and compared suicide rates among relatives of all 83 951 suicide decedents from 1952-2003 with those among relatives of population controls.
resultsPatterns of familial aggregation of suicide among relatives to suicide decedents suggested genetic influences on suicide risk; the risk among full siblings (odds ratio 3.1, 95% confidence interval 2.8-3.5, 50% genetic similarity) was higher than that for maternal half-siblings (1.7, 1.1-2.7, 25% genetic similarity), despite similar environmental exposure. Further, monozygotic twins (100% genetic similarity) had a higher risk than dizygotic twins (50% genetic similarity) and cousins (12.5% genetic similarity) had higher suicide risk than controls. Shared (familial) environmental influences were also indicated; siblings to suicide decedents had a higher risk than offspring (both 50% genetically identical but siblings having a more shared environment, 3.1, 2.8-3.5 v. 2.0, 1.9-2.2), and maternal half-siblings had a higher risk than paternal half-siblings (both 50% genetically identical but the former with a more shared environment). Although comparisons of twins and half-siblings had overlapping confidence intervals, they were supported by sensitivity analyses, also including suicide attempts.
conclusionsFamilial clustering of suicide is primarily influenced by genetic and also shared environmental factors. The family history of suicide should be considered when assessing suicide risk in clinical settings or designing and administering preventive interventions.
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