THURSDAY, Nov. 15, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Survivors of major trauma have an elevated risk for mental health conditions or death by suicide in the five years after injury, according to a study published in the Nov. 12 issue of CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.
Christopher C.D. Evans, M.D., from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, and colleagues completed a population-based self-controlled longitudinal study using linked administrative data on patients treated for major trauma between 2005 and 2010. The composite rates of mental health diagnoses during inpatient admission were compared for five years before and after the injury, and incidence of suicide was calculated for the five years after the injury. Data were included for 19,338 patients (70.7 percent men).
The researchers found that trauma was associated with an increase in the postinjury rate of mental health diagnoses (incidence rate ratio, 1.4). The suicide rate was considerably higher than the population average at 70 per 100,000 patients per year. Prior inpatient diagnosis of mood disorder and self-inflicted injury were risk factors for completing suicide (hazard ratio, 4.3 and 7.8, respectively).
“Mental health resources should be offered to all survivors of major trauma, and particularly intense supports directed to the highest-risk patients,” the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
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