Chronic pain is associated with suicidal behaviour

Chronic pain is not only a physical burden – it can also increase the risk of suicide and suicide attempts. A new genetically informed study shows that chronic pain may have a direct causal relationship with suicidal behavior. At the same time, depression is documented as a central explanatory factor in this association. The results have implications for both pain management and suicide prevention.

This study uses statistical analyses to examine whether there is a causal relationship between chronic pain and the risk of suicide or suicide attempts. Ninety-seven independent genetic variants from a large genome-wide association study (GWAS) of chronic pain (N = 387,649) were used as instruments to test the association with suicide attempts (N = 50,264) and suicide deaths (N = 18,085). Additionally, the extent to which depression mediates this relationship was examined.

The results showed that chronic pain increased the risk of suicide attempts (OR = 1,67) and suicide (OR = 2). Diagnosed depression accounted for 39% and 34% of these associations, respectively, which was confirmed through sensitivity analyses with no signs of outliers.

This study strengthens the suspicion of a causal link between chronic pain and suicidal behavior and highlights depression as an important mediating factor. It suggests that both effective pain management and targeted depression treatment should be part of suicide prevention strategies for individuals with chronic pain.