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Factors linked to suicide deaths

What research links to suicide deaths across large populations. These factors are common, and most people who have them never die by suicide. Tap a pill, answer yours. Green pills lower the risk, red raise it; a star marks an estimate, not a published number. All causes ›

The numbers on this page describe patterns researchers see across large groups of people. They are not a prediction about you. Most people with any of these factors never die by suicide, and every factor here can change, especially with support.

Factors linked to suicide deaths

Factors linked to suicide deaths

100%75%50%25%0%25%50%75%100%← more risk · % change in risk · less risk →Factors, ranked by biggest effect664%#1458%#2446%#3224%#492%#584%#671%#743%#8#9Everythingelseno single number

Scroll sideways to see every factor →

Tap a pill to answer yours.

Where you sit

0 of 9 answered

Answer the 9 factors above to see which ones raise your own risk, which sit at the reference, and which the studies have no number for.

Relative risk versus each factor’s reference group; above the line is lower risk, below it higher.

Sources (13)Anglemyer A, Horvath T, Rutherford G, Ann Intern Med 2014 · Grossman DC, Mueller BA, Riedy C, et al., JAMA 2005 · Studdert DM, Zhang Y, Swanson SA, et al., N Engl J Med 2020 and 10 moreShow all
  1. [1]M. Moitra et al. Estimating the risk of suicide associated with mental disorders: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis. J Psychiatr Res, 137:242-249, 2021. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.02.053 Evidence: High
  2. [2]A. Athey et al. Association of substance use with suicide mortality: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Drug Alcohol Depend Rep, 14:100310, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.dadr.2024.100310 Evidence: Moderate
  3. [3]B. V. Watts et al. Association of Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder With Suicide Mortality. Am J Psychiatry, 179(4):298-304, 2022. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2021.21070700 Evidence: Low
  4. [4]M. A. Ilgen et al. Opioid dose and risk of suicide. Pain, 157(5):1079-1084, 2016. doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000484 Evidence: Low
  5. [5]A. Anglemyer, T. Horvath, and G. Rutherford. The accessibility of firearms and risk for suicide and homicide victimization among household members: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med, 160(2):101-10, 2014. doi:10.7326/M13-1301 Evidence: Moderate
  6. [6]D. C. Grossman et al. Gun storage practices and risk of youth suicide and unintentional firearm injuries. JAMA, 293(6):707-14, 2005. doi:10.1001/jama.293.6.707 Evidence: Low
  7. [7]D. M. Studdert et al. Handgun Ownership and Suicide in California. N Engl J Med, 382(23):2220-2229, 2020. doi:10.1056/NEJMsa1916744 Evidence: Low
  8. [8]W. Kyung-Sook et al. Marital status integration and suicide: A meta-analysis and meta-regression. Soc Sci Med, 197:116-126, 2018. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.11.053 Evidence: High
  9. [9]T. J. VanderWeele et al. Association Between Religious Service Attendance and Lower Suicide Rates Among US Women. JAMA Psychiatry, 73(8):845-51, 2016. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.1243 Evidence: Low
  10. [10]S. Lange et al. A dose-response meta-analysis on the relationship between average amount of alcohol consumed and death by suicide. Drug Alcohol Depend, 260:111348, 2024. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.111348 Evidence: Moderate
  11. [11]R. J. Shaw et al. Living alone, loneliness and lack of emotional support as predictors of suicide and self-harm: A nine-year follow up of the UK Biobank cohort. J Affect Disord, 279:316-323, 2021. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2020.10.026 Evidence: Low
  12. [12]A. K. Hedström et al. Insomnia in the context of short sleep increases suicide risk. Sleep, 44(4):zsaa245, 2021. doi:10.1093/sleep/zsaa245 Evidence: Low
  13. [13]A. Cipriani et al. Lithium in the prevention of suicide in mood disorders: updated systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ, 346:f3646, 2013. doi:10.1136/bmj.f3646 Evidence: Moderate

Every factor, one by one

One quick question each. The charts above follow your answers, and so does every other What Matters page that asks the same question.

  1. #1Mental health condition[1]+664%

    Mental health conditions are the most studied link: in population studies pooled by the Global Burden of Disease team, major depression went with about 7.6 times the rate of suicide death, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia about 6 times, and anxiety disorders about 4.9 times.

    Have you been diagnosed with a mental health condition?

    reference
    ≈+511%
    +505%
    +389%
    +664%
    +505%

    Same number, 2 answers: The meta-regression pooled people with these diagnoses whether or not they were in treatment, so both answers share one figure.

    Not answered yet. Tap an option to save your answer. Saved to your quiz answers, so the quiz shows it too.

  2. #2Drug use[2, 3]+458%

    Across 47 cohort studies in 12 countries, people who misused drugs died by suicide at 5.6 times the rate of the general population.

    Do you use recreational drugs?

    reference
    ≈+24%
    ≈+54%
    ≈+136%
    +458%
    ≈+151%

    Not answered yet. Tap an option to save your answer. Saved to your quiz answers, so the quiz shows it too.

  3. #3Prescription opioids[2, 4]+446%

    Misusing opioids went with 5.5 times the general population’s suicide death rate across cohort studies.

    Do you take prescription opioids or sedatives?

    reference
    ≈+48%
    +446%

    Not answered yet. Tap an option to save your answer. Saved to your quiz answers, so the quiz shows it too.

  4. #4Firearm at home[5, 6, 7]+224%

    Across 16 observational studies, people living in a home with access to a firearm died by suicide about three times as often as people without that access.

    Is there a firearm in your home?

    reference
    ≈+80%
    +224%
    no number

    Not answered yet. Tap an option to save your answer. This answer does not change your life estimate.

  5. #5Partnership[8]+92%

    Across 36 publications, people who were not married died by suicide about twice as often as married people, with the gap largest for men under 65 and for people who were divorced.

    Are you in a stable partnership?

    reference
    +92%

    Not answered yet. Tap an option to save your answer. Saved to your quiz answers, so the quiz shows it too.

  6. #6Community[9]−84%

    In the Nurses’ Health Study, 89,708 women followed from 1996 to 2010, attending religious services once a week or more went with about a fifth of the suicide death rate of never attending, even after accounting for depression and social ties.

    Are you part of a community (club, faith group, volunteering)?

    −84%
    ≈−60%
    reference

    Not answered yet. Tap an option to save your answer. Saved to your quiz answers, so the quiz shows it too.

  7. #7Alcohol[10]+71%

    Across eight cohort studies and about two million people, suicide death rose steadily with how much people drank on average, with no safe threshold in the data.

    How much alcohol do you drink?

    reference
    +11%
    +38%
    +71%

    Not answered yet. Tap an option to save your answer. Saved to your quiz answers, so the quiz shows it too.

  8. #8Social connection[11]+43%

    In about half a million UK Biobank adults followed for nine years, loneliness went with a modestly higher suicide death rate in men, and living alone with a larger one; in women neither link showed up for suicide deaths, though loneliness did go with more self-harm in both sexes.

    How connected are you to friends and family?

    reference
    reference
    +43%

    Not answered yet. Tap an option to save your answer. Saved to your quiz answers, so the quiz shows it too.

  9. #9Sleep[12]

    In a Swedish cohort of 38,786 people followed for about 19 years, trouble sleeping went with nearly three times the suicide death rate, but only among people who slept under seven hours; at seven hours or more there was no link.

    How much sleep do you usually get?

    ≈+69%
    ≈+30%
    reference
    reference

    Not answered yet. Tap an option to save your answer. Saved to your quiz answers, so the quiz shows it too.

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