Research cooperation: Suicidal behaviour and chronic pain

Background

Several studies have examined connections between depression and chronic non-malignant pains. These studies have shown that up to 50% of chronic pain patients suffer from a depression. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that chronic pain patients also experience a higher risk of suicidal behaviour. So far, this problem has been examined to a lesser extent.

Objectives

The threefold objectives of the project are

• to examine if patients treated at the SMEC (Clinic of Chronic Pain) from January 2004 to December 2008 experienced an increased risk of committing attempted and completed suicides in comparison with the background population.
• to examine if the frequency of attempted suicides before the referral to SMEC differs from the frequency of attempted suicides after the treatment at the SMEC
• to compare patients suffering from suicidal behaviour with patients who do not in order to identify risk factors for suicidal behaviour among chronic pain patients, based on registered data from patients who consecutively were referred to SMEC from September 2008 to august 2009.

Project cooperation

The project is carried out in cooperation with Psychiatric Ward, OUH and the Clinic of Chronic Pain, OUH

Contact

Agnieszka Konieczna, Centre for Suicide Research, agko@cfsmail.dk