TY - JOUR
T1 - Consistency of immigrant suicide rates in Austria with country-of-birth suicide rates
T2 - A role for genetic risk factors for suicide?
AU - Voracek, Martin
AU - Loibl, Lisa Mariella
AU - Dervic, Kanita
AU - Kapusta, Nestor D.
AU - Niederkrotenthaler, Thomas
AU - Sonneck, Gernot
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was in partial fulfillment of the first author's D.M.Sc. degree requirements at the Medical University of Vienna. Lisa Mariella Loibl was supported by a Young Researcher Mini Grant from the Dean's Office of the School of Psychology, University of Vienna.
PY - 2009/12/30
Y1 - 2009/12/30
N2 - Multifaceted evidence (family, twin, adoption, molecular genetic, geographic, and surname studies of suicide) suggests genetic risk factors for suicide. The migrant study design is also informative in this context, but underused. In particular, immigrant studies of suicide with a continental European host country are unavailable. The correspondence of suicide prevalence among 22 immigrant groups in Austria (1970-2006) with those of the homelands during the same period was analyzed. Immigrant and homeland suicide rates were significantly positively associated. Controls for age of suicide victim, immigrant group size, national pride, and quality of life in the homelands left the finding essentially unchanged. This correspondence of immigrant and country-of-birth suicide rates is consistent with the assumption of population differences in the prevalence of genetic risk factors for suicide, for which there is emerging evidence.
AB - Multifaceted evidence (family, twin, adoption, molecular genetic, geographic, and surname studies of suicide) suggests genetic risk factors for suicide. The migrant study design is also informative in this context, but underused. In particular, immigrant studies of suicide with a continental European host country are unavailable. The correspondence of suicide prevalence among 22 immigrant groups in Austria (1970-2006) with those of the homelands during the same period was analyzed. Immigrant and homeland suicide rates were significantly positively associated. Controls for age of suicide victim, immigrant group size, national pride, and quality of life in the homelands left the finding essentially unchanged. This correspondence of immigrant and country-of-birth suicide rates is consistent with the assumption of population differences in the prevalence of genetic risk factors for suicide, for which there is emerging evidence.
KW - Austria
KW - Genetic epidemiology
KW - Genetics
KW - Immigrants
KW - Migrant study
KW - Risk factors
KW - Suicide
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U2 - 10.1016/j.psychres.2008.10.032
DO - 10.1016/j.psychres.2008.10.032
M3 - Article
C2 - 19900719
AN - SCOPUS:70449521470
SN - 0165-1781
VL - 170
SP - 286
EP - 289
JO - Psychiatry Research
JF - Psychiatry Research
IS - 2-3
ER -