30 Jul Socially Isolated Women Have Greater Risk of Suicide

Posted at 18:26h in Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, JAMA, Mental Health Research by

Alexander C. Tsai, MD, PhD Center for Global Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Cambridge, MassachusettsMedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Alexander C. Tsai, MD, PhD
Center for Global Health
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Dr. Tsai: Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among middle aged women, and the rates have been climbing over the past decade. At the same time, we know that Americans are becoming more and more isolated. As one example, over the past two decades, there has been a tripling in the number of people who say they don’t have anyone to confide in about important matters. In our study, we tracked more than 70,000 American women over two decades and found that the most socially isolated women had a threefold increased risk of suicide.

Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Tsai:  There are many factors that may play a role in whether people take their own lives. Mental illnesses like depression may be an important factor, but most of the women in our study actually did not have symptoms of depression. One takeaway for readers is that participating in a broad range of social relationships can be good for your health, regardless of whether you are struggling with symptoms of depression or other mental illnesses. There are many different kinds of relationships, ranging from family members and relatives, to friends you meet in neighborhood associations or religious groups. One takeaway for clinicians is to be aware that social isolation can be bad for your health. Understanding their patients’ social worlds can be incredibly useful in helping clinicians keep their patients healthy.

Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Tsai: It is becoming increasingly clear that social relationships matter for health. We know much less about what kinds of interventions can be done for socially isolated people, whether it would involve helping them to strengthen existing social networks or even creating new ones.

Citation:

Alexander C. Tsai, MD, PhD (2015). Association Between Social Integration and Suicide Among Women in the United States 

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Last Updated on July 30, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

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