Chronic physical conditions and suicidal ideation: a population-level analysis of Canadian school-attending young adults

Abstract

Background

Students who identify with a chronic physical condition are a growing population and their conditions may be associated with poor mental well-being.

Aim

To compare suicidal ideation prevalence between Canadian school-attending young adults with and without a chronic physical condition. We hypothesized that students living with a chronic condition have a higher likelihood of experiencing suicidal ideation.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted using a nationally representative sample of 2297 Canadian school-attending young adults (ages 15-29 years) from the 2012-13 Canadian Community Health Survey—Mental Health (CCHS-MH). Survey-weighted logistic regression and sensitivity analyses were performed to estimate the likelihood of experiencing suicidal ideation between students with and without a chronic physical condition.

Results

Approximately 14.3% (n = 329) students experienced suicidal ideation at some point. Students living with a physical chronic condition demonstrated 1.65 (95% CI: 1.14, 2.39) times higher odds of experiencing suicidal ideation, compared to students not living with a chronic physical condition.

Conclusions

Suicide prevention and health promotion are important considerations for campus health providers and administrators when planning services and accommodations for students living with chronic physical conditions.

Keywords:

• Young adults
• school
• suicidal ideation
• chronic conditions

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest relevant to this article to disclose.

Financial disclosure

PV receives financial support through a doctoral fellowship award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. QD reports salary support from a scholar’s award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (grant #5738, 2014). MEK holds research grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and BC SUPPORT Unit and is supported by the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar award. Over the past two years, MEK has received consulting fees from Biogen Inc.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from Statistics Canada. Restrictions apply to the availability of this public use microdata file, which we accessed through the University of British Columbia. Data may be accessed institutionally or through https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/82M0013X.