Risk of suicide in relation to income level in people admitted to hospital with mental illness: nested case-control study Commentary: Suicide and income---is the risk greater in rich people who develop serious mental illness?

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# Risk of suicide in relation to income level in people admitted to hospital with mental illness: nested case-control study {#article-title-2} People at higher risk of suicide, such as those who are socially and economically disadvantaged, are also at high risk of being admitted to hospital with a mental illness.1 2 In some cases it seems that mental illness is a factor on the causal pathway between social position and suicide. 2 3 However, Mortensen and colleagues showed that the importance of socioeconomic variables as risk factors for suicide was reduced after adjustment was made for a history of mental illness.3 We present findings on 811 cases of suicide and 80 787 matched control subjects in a population based study which aimed to gain further insight into the association between social position and mental disorder. We used the Danish medical registers on vital statistics to establish a random, 5%, population based sample of 811 people who had committed suicide between 1982 and 1994. Up to 1983, suicide was defined as ICD-8 codes E950-959; for 1994, ICD-10 codes X60-X84 were applied. Each person who had committed suicide was matched with approximately 100 people of the same sex and year of birth who were alive on the date of the suicide. Information on dates of hospital admission and discharge and details of diagnoses was drawn from the Danish psychiatric central register, which has monitored all psychiatric inpatient facilities since 1969. Socioeconomic data on case and control subjects from two years before the suicide were added from the longitudinal labour market register. Detailed description of the registers can be found in Mortensen et al.3 The main variables included were annual gross income (wages, pensions, unemployment and social security benefits, and interest), grouped into fourths, and hospital admission status in relation to mental illness. Hospital admission status was categorised as follows: never admitted, currently admitted or first discharge within the present or …