People with a family history of suicide are two and a half times more likely to kill themselves than the general population.
Researchers in Denmark have been looking at the risk factors for suicide. They identified 4,262 people aged between nine and 45 years who had killed themselves between 1981 and 1997 and compared them with over 80,000 matched controls.

People with a family history of suicide are two and a half times more likely to kill themselves than those without such a history. Psychiatric illness is another risk. A family history of mental health problems leads to a 50 per cent higher risk of suicide, but only in individuals who are themselves apparently free of psychiatric problems.

The study showed that a family suicide history and a family psychiatric history accounted for 2.25 per cent and 6.80 per cent of suicides respectively. These numbers are small in absolute terms, but they highlight the need for doctors to be vigilant of the suicide risk in these vulnerable groups.