Anxiety and Suicide Attempts

Anxiety disorders have been linked to an increased risk for suicide attempts. However, it remains unclear whether this is a result of comorbidity with other axis I and II disorders that themselves heighten suicide risk in patients. To examine the risk for suicide attempts in people with anxiety disorders after adjustment for other psychiatric diagnoses, investigators used data on the 34,653 respondents in wave 2 of the nationally representative, longitudinal National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC).

In-person interviews yielded sociodemographic information, histories of suicide attempts, and axis I and II psychiatric diagnoses. The lifetime prevalence of any anxiety disorder was 29.5% and of a suicide attempt …