General practitioner consultations for mental health reasons prior to and following bereavement by suicide.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Prior research has shown that the majority of those bereaved by suicide express a need for mental health care services. However, there is a lack of knowledge about these individuals' use of primary health care. The objective of our study was to estimate the association between suicide bereavement and general practitioner (GP) consultations for mental health reasons.

Methods

A population-wide, register-based cohort study identifying 25,580 individuals bereaved by suicide. Estimations of increases in consultation rate were modeled through individual fixed-effects linear analyses adjusted for age and time-period.

Results

Overall, 35% of those bereaved by suicide had a GP consultation for mental health reasons during the first 1-2 months, and 53% after two years.

SUBMITTER: Belanger SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11343791 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature