@article {Omerove003108, author = {Pernilla Omerov and Gunnar Steineck and Tommy Nyberg and Bo Runeson and Ullakarin Nyberg}, title = {Psychological morbidity among suicide-bereaved and non-bereaved parents: a nationwide population survey}, volume = {3}, number = {8}, elocation-id = {e003108}, year = {2013}, doi = {10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003108}, publisher = {British Medical Journal Publishing Group}, abstract = {Objective To determine how psychological premorbidity affects the risk of depression in parents who lost a child through suicide. Design Population-based survey. Setting Sweden, between 2009 and 2010. Participants All parents who lost a child, age 15{\textendash}30, through suicide between 2004 and 2007 according to National population registries. Non-bereaved parents matched for age, sex, living area, marital status, number of children. Exclusion criteria: born outside a Nordic country, not Swedish speaking, contact details missing. Participants: 666 of 915 (73\%) suicide-bereaved and 377 of 508 (74\%) non-bereaved parents. Main outcome measures Depression measured by the nine-item depression scale of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and study-specific questions to assess psychological premorbidity and experience of the child{\textquoteright}s presuicidal morbidity. Results In all, 94 (14\%) suicide-bereaved and 51 (14\%) non-bereaved parents (relative risk 1.0; 95\% CI 0.8 to 1.4) had received their first treatment for psychological problems or had been given a psychiatric diagnosis more than 10 years earlier. The prevalence of moderate-to-severe depression was 115 (18\%) in suicide-bereaved versus 28 (7\%) in non-bereaved parents (RR 2.3; 95\% CI 1.6 to 3.5). For those without psychological premorbidity, the relative risk was 2.3 (95\% CI 1.4 to 3.6). 339 (51\%) suicide-bereaved parents expressed worry over the child{\textquoteright}s psychological health during the month preceding the suicide and 259 (39\%) had anticipated the suicide. Conclusions In parents who lost a child through suicide in Sweden we did not find a higher prevalence of long-term psychological premorbidity than among parents who had not lost a child; the more than twofold risk of depression among the bereaved can probably be explained by the suicide and the stressful time preceding the suicide.}, issn = {2044-6055}, URL = {https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/3/8/e003108}, eprint = {https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/3/8/e003108.full.pdf}, journal = {BMJ Open} }