Table 3

Estimates of the relationship between postbereavement outcomes and bereavement exposure (suicide vs sudden unnatural death)

Exposure groupSudden unnatural death (n=712)Suicide (n=614)
Prevalence n (%)OR (reference)Prevalence n (%)Unadjusted OR* (95% CI)p Value†Adjusted‡ OR* (95% CI)p Value†
Primary outcomes
 Postbereavement suicidal ideation322 (45)1299 (49)1.22 (0.97 to 1.53)0.0871.17 (0.93 to 1.48)0.189
 Postbereavement suicide attempt42 (6)156 (9)1.62 (1.04 to 2.50)0.0321.48 (0.94 to 2.33)0.089
Secondary outcomes
 Postbereavement non-suicidal self-harm149 (21)1151 (25)1.29 (0.99 to 1.68)0.0611.21 (0.89 to 1.63)0.222
 Postbereavement depression249 (35)1180 (29)0.78 (0.61 to 1.00)0.0490.84 (0.64 to 1.10)0.197
 Postbereavement occupational drop-out44 (6)148 (8)1.18 (0.75 to 1.84)0.4731.15 (0.73 to 1.82)0.541
 Poor current social functioning178 (25)1200 (33)1.56 (1.21 to 2.00)0.0011.46 (1.12 to 1.89)0.005
  • *Estimate obtained using xtlogit command in Stata.

  • †Two-sided significance threshold of p=0.05 for primary outcomes, and p=0.01 for secondary outcomes.

  • ‡Adjusted for age, gender, socioeconomic status, prebereavement depression, prebereavement suicide attempt, prebereavement non-suicidal self-harm, other family history of suicide (excluding index bereavement), years since bereavement and kinship to the deceased. For each model, exposure group sizes exceeded the 466 respondents required for adequate power, even when using complete case analysis.