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Cause and effect in studies on unemployment, mental health and suicide: a meta-analytic and conceptual review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2013

A. Milner ,
A. Page  and
A. D. LaMontagne
A. Milner*
Affiliation:
McCaughey VicHealth Centre for Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
A. Page
Affiliation:
School of Science and Health, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia
A. D. LaMontagne
Affiliation:
McCaughey VicHealth Centre for Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
*
*Address for correspondence: A. Milner, Ph.D., McCaughey VicHealth Centre for Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Level 5, 207 Bouverie Street, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia. (Email: allison.milner@unimelb.edu.au)
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Abstract

Background

There are ongoing questions about whether unemployment has causal effects on suicide as this relationship may be confounded by past experiences of mental illness. The present review quantified the effects of adjustment for mental health on the relationship between unemployment and suicide. Findings were used to develop and interpret likely causal models of unemployment, mental health and suicide.

Method

A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted on five population-based cohort studies where temporal relationships could be clearly ascertained.

Results

Results of the meta-analysis showed that unemployment was associated with a significantly higher relative risk (RR) of suicide before adjustment for prior mental health [RR 1.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.33–1.83]. After controlling for mental health, the RR of suicide following unemployment was reduced by approximately 37% (RR 1.15, 95% CI 1.00–1.30). Greater exposure to unemployment was associated with higher RR of suicide, and the pooled RR was higher for males than for females.

Conclusions

Plausible interpretations of likely pathways between unemployment and suicide are complex and difficult to validate given the poor delineation of associations over time and analytic rationale for confounder adjustment evident in the revised literature. Future research would be strengthened by explicit articulation of temporal relationships and causal assumptions. This would be complemented by longitudinal study designs suitable to assess potential confounders, mediators and effect modifiers influencing the relationship between unemployment and suicide.

Keywords

Confoundersdirected acyclic graphshealthy worker effectmediatorsmental disorderssuicideunemployment
Type
Review Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 44 , Issue 5 , April 2014 , pp. 909 - 917
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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