Being widowed - a high risk period for suicide

Background: In general, married persons have a distinctly lower risk of suicide than singles, widow(er)s or the divorced. Several studies have shown that the risk of suicide is particularly high in widowed persons.[1-4] In this analysis, we focussed on the effect of time after bereavement. Data and methods: Suicide data collated by marital group were extracted from Swiss mortality statistics for the period 1991-2003. The time between bereavement and subsequent death – specifically suicide – was determined by linkage of individual records of married persons. The mortality in the first week / month / year of widowhood was calculated based on person-year calculations.