Heart rate and suicide: findings from two cohorts of 533 000 Taiwanese and 75 000 Norwegian adults

S-S Chang; J H Bjørngaard; M K Tsai; O Bjerkeset; C P Wen; P S F Yip; C K Tsao; D Gunnell

doi:10.1111/acps.12513

Heart rate and suicide: findings from two cohorts of 533 000 Taiwanese and 75 000 Norwegian adults

Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2016 Apr;133(4):277-88. doi: 10.1111/acps.12513. Epub 2015 Oct 22.

Authors

S-S Chang^{1

2

3}, J H Bjørngaard^{4

5}, M K Tsai^{6

7}, O Bjerkeset^{8

9}, C P Wen^{6

7}, P S F Yip^{2

3}, C K Tsao¹⁰, D Gunnell¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Health Behaviors and Community Sciences, and Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
³ Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
⁴ Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
⁵ Forensic Department and Research Centre, Bröset St. Olav's University Hospital Trondheim, Trondheim, Norway.
⁶ China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁷ Institute of Population Health Science, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan.
⁸ Faculty of Health Sciences, Nord-Trøndelag University College (HiNT), Levanger, Norway.
⁹ Institute of Neuromedicine, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
¹⁰ MJ Health Management Institution, Taipei, Taiwan.
¹¹ School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.

PMID: 26493376
DOI: 10.1111/acps.12513

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the association of resting heart rate with suicide in two large cohorts.

Method: The MJ cohort (Taiwan) included 532 932 adults from a health check-up programme (1994-2008). The HUNT cohort (Norway) included 74 977 adults in the Nord-Trøndelag County study (1984-1986), followed up to 2004. In both cohorts heart rate was measured at baseline, and suicide was ascertained through linkage to cause-of-death registers. Risk of suicide was estimated using Cox proportional hazards models.

Results: There were 569 and 188 suicides (average follow-up period of 8.1 and 16.9 years) in the MJ and HUNT cohorts respectively. Sex- and age-adjusted hazard ratio for every 10 beat increase in heart rate per minute was 1.08 (95% Confidence Interval 1.00-1.16) and 1.24 (1.12-1.38) in the MJ and HUNT cohorts, respectively. In the MJ cohort this association was confined to individuals with a history of heart diseases vs. those without such a history (P for interaction = 0.008). In the HUNT cohort the association did not differ by history of heart diseases and was robust to adjustment for health-related life style, medication use, and symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Conclusion: Elevated resting heart rate may be a marker of increased suicide risk.

Keywords: Norway; Taiwan; The Hunt Study; cohort study; heart rate; suicide.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Cohort Studies
Female
Heart Rate / physiology*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Norway / epidemiology
Proportional Hazards Models
Risk Factors
Suicide / statistics & numerical data*
Taiwan / epidemiology
Young Adult