Childhood Sexual Abuse and Suicidal Behavior: A Meta-analysis
Date
2014
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Pediatrics
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Self-inflicted injuries are one of the
major causes of disease burden and death globally. Understanding
the extent to which this is associated with childhood sexual abuse
(CSA) exposure can help inform prevention strategies. We aimed to
quantify to what extent CSA was associated with incident suicide
attempts in men and women.
METHODS: We searched 20 health and social science databases from
first record until February 2009 and updated the search in Medline
from February 2009 to February 1, 2013. Longitudinal studies and cotwin
analyses from twin studies in any population from any year were
eligible for inclusion. Of 22 235 abstracts screened as part of a series
of reviews, 9 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. Characteristics,
effect estimates, and quality data were extracted. Randomeffects
meta-analysis was used to generate pooled odds ratios (ORs).
RESULTS: Seven longitudinal and 2 twin studies with 8733 participants
met the inclusion criteria. The overall pooled estimate for longitudinal
studies was OR = 2.43 (95% confidence interval: 1.94–3.05), I2 = 87.5%,
P , .0001. The pooled OR from cotwin analysis was 2.65 (95% confidence
interval: 0.82–4.49, I2 = 0%, P = .867). Studies adjusted for a
range of confounders, but baseline suicidal behavior was not wellcontrolled.
Too few studies met the inclusion criteria to quantitatively
examine sources of heterogeneity.
CONCLUSIONS: CSA exposure is associated with suicide attempts when
a range of different confounders are controlled for, but the temporality
of the association is not well established, and the association is highly
heterogeneous. P
Description
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Article
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Keywords
child sexual abuse, Self-inflicted injuries, prevention, suicidal ideation, research
Citation
Devries, K. M., Mak, J. Y., Child, J. C., Falder, G., Bacchus, L. J., Astbury, J., & Watts, C. H. (2014). Childhood sexual abuse and suicidal behavior: A meta-analysis. Pediatrics, peds-2013.