The association of pain with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts with depressive symptoms among adults aged =50 years from low- and middle-income countries.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to examine the relationship of pain with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts with depressive symptoms among adults aged =50 years from six low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa). METHODS: Cross-sectional, community-bas...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Authors: Smith L, Shin JI, Pizzol D, López Sánchez GF, Soysal P, Veronese N, Kostev K, Jacob L, Butler LT, Barnett Y, Koyanagi A
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2023
Country:España
Institution:Fundació Sant Joan de Déu
Repository:r-FSJD. Repositorio Institucional de Producción Científica de la Fundació Sant Joan de Déu
OAI Identifier:oai:fsjd.fundanetsuite.com:p23792
Online Access:https://fsjd.fundanetsuite.com/Publicaciones/ProdCientif/PublicacionFrw.aspx?id=23792
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:low- and middle-income countries
older adults
pain
suicidal ideation
suicide attempt
Description
Summary:OBJECTIVES: We aimed to examine the relationship of pain with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts with depressive symptoms among adults aged =50 years from six low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa). METHODS: Cross-sectional, community-based, nationally representative data from the WHO Study on global AGEing and adult health were analyzed. Self-reported information on past 12-month suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among people with depressive symptoms was collected. Pain was assessed with the question "Overall in the last 30 days, how much of bodily aches or pain did you have?" With answer options: "none", "mild", "moderate", "severe/extreme". Multivariable logistic regression was done to assess associations. RESULTS: Data on 34,129 adults aged =50 years (mean [SD] age 62.4 [16.0] years; males 47.9%) were analyzed. Compared to no pain, mild, moderate, and severe/extreme pain were associated with 2.83 (95% CI = 1.51-5.28), 4.01 (95% CI = 2.38-6.76), and 12.26 (95% CI = 6.44-23.36) times higher odds for suicidal ideation. For suicide attempt, only severe/extreme pain was associated with significantly increased odds (OR = 4.68; 95% CI = 1.67-13.08). CONCLUSIONS: In this large sample of older adults from multiple LMICs, pain was strongly associated with suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts with depressive symptoms. Future studies should assess whether addressing pain among older people in LMICs may lead to reduction in suicidal thoughts and behaviors.