Adults Diagnosed With Concussion May Be at Heightened Long-Term Risk of Suicide

Adults who have been diagnosed with a concussion may be at a heightened long-term risk of suicide, reports a study published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. According to the authors, the findings suggest that a history of concussion may be relevant when assessing a patient's suicide risk.

Donald Redelmeier, M.D., of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto and colleagues examined 235,110 records of patients in Ontario who had a concussion between 1992 and 2012. During the follow-up period, 667 suicides occurred, equivalent to 31 deaths per 100,000 patients annually—three times the population norm.

Weekend concussions (considered more likely to be caused by recreational injuries) were associated with a one-third further increased risk of suicide compared with weekday concussions (considered more likely to be caused by occupational injuries). For people with a prior suicide attempt, a psychiatric or substance use disorder, or multiple concussions, this risk was even higher; however, even individuals who met none of these criteria still had double the long-term suicide risk following a concussion.

“[C]oncussions are rarely deemed relevant for consideration by psychiatrists or other physicians when eliciting a patient’s history,” the authors wrote. “Greater attention to the long-term implications of a concussion in community settings might save lives because deaths from suicide can be prevented.”

For related information, see the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences article “Suicide and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.”

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