Abstract
This study examined the prevalence of reported suicide attempts among family members of individuals with an eating disorder (ED). 1870 individuals presenting for ED treatment reported whether their family members ever made a suicide attempt using the Eating Disorders Questionnaire. A lifetime suicide attempt by any family member was reported by 10.8% (n = 202) of the sample and ranged from 7.0% of those with eating disorder not otherwise specified to 16.1% of those with purging disorder. Controlling for age and gender, individuals with bulimia nervosa had a higher prevalence of any familial suicide attempt and mother suicide attempt than individuals with EDNOS; no other differences were observed across ED diagnoses. There were no differences in prevalence of reported suicide attempts made by fathers, brothers, sisters, uncles, or aunts by ED diagnosis. Findings support a growing literature indicating a familial association between EDs and suicide risk.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 707-710 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | International Journal of Eating Disorders |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Research reported in this publication was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (T32 MH 082761, P.I.: S.J. Crow), from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (P30DK050456) from the National Institutes of Health National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (Award Number UL1TR000114). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Keywords
- eating disorders
- suicide
