Perinatal risk factors for suicide in young adults in Taiwan

BACKGROUND: We investigated the association of early life social factors-maternal age, single motherhood, socioeconomic position, birth order and family size-with future risk of suicide in Taiwan. METHODS: Using a nested case-control design, we used linked data from Taiwan's Birth Registry (1978-93) and Taiwan's Death Registry (1993-2008) and identified 3984 suicides aged 15-30 years. For each suicide, 30 controls matched by age and sex were randomly selected, using incidence density sampling. Conditional logistic regression models were estimated to assess the association of early life risk factors with suicide. RESULTS: Younger maternal age (/=4 siblings), the excess in suicide risk was greater among later born daughters compared with later born sons (Pinteraction=0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide support for the results of European studies, suggesting that early life social circumstances influence future risk of suicide. Factors specific to Taiwanese culture, such as a preference for male offspring, may have influenced gender-specific patterns of risk