Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Search in posts
Search in pages
Filter by Categories
Book Review
Brief Report
Case Letter
Case Report
Case Series
Commentary
Current Issue
Editorial
Erratum
Guest Editorial
Images
Images in Neurology
Images in Neuroscience
Images in Neurosciences
Letter to Editor
Letter to the Editor
Letters to Editor
Letters to the Editor
Media and News
None
Notice of Retraction
Obituary
Original Article
Point of View
Position Paper
Review Article
Short Communication
Systematic Review
Systematic Review Article
Technical Note
Techniques in Neurosurgery
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Search in posts
Search in pages
Filter by Categories
Book Review
Brief Report
Case Letter
Case Report
Case Series
Commentary
Current Issue
Editorial
Erratum
Guest Editorial
Images
Images in Neurology
Images in Neuroscience
Images in Neurosciences
Letter to Editor
Letter to the Editor
Letters to Editor
Letters to the Editor
Media and News
None
Notice of Retraction
Obituary
Original Article
Point of View
Position Paper
Review Article
Short Communication
Systematic Review
Systematic Review Article
Technical Note
Techniques in Neurosurgery
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Search in posts
Search in pages
Filter by Categories
Book Review
Brief Report
Case Letter
Case Report
Case Series
Commentary
Current Issue
Editorial
Erratum
Guest Editorial
Images
Images in Neurology
Images in Neuroscience
Images in Neurosciences
Letter to Editor
Letter to the Editor
Letters to Editor
Letters to the Editor
Media and News
None
Notice of Retraction
Obituary
Original Article
Point of View
Position Paper
Review Article
Short Communication
Systematic Review
Systematic Review Article
Technical Note
Techniques in Neurosurgery
View/Download PDF

Translate this page into:

Editorial
13 (
3
); 357-357
doi:
10.1055/s-0042-1748177

Epidemiological Risk Factors of Suicidal Behavior in Medical Students

Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

Roshan Sutar, MD Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhopal 462020, Madhya Pradesh India roshidoc@yahoo.co.in

Licence
This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Disclaimer:
This article was originally published by Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd. and was migrated to Scientific Scholar after the change of Publisher.

After investigating the paper titled “Epidemiological Risk Factors of Suicidal Behavior and Effects of the Components of Coping Strategies on Suicidal Behavior in Medical Students: A North-Indian Institution-Based Cross-Sectional Study,”1 it was noted that the study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors of suicidal behavior in medical students; therefore, assessment of depression, suicidality, and coping skills could have been supplemented with associated risk factors to fulfill the objectives in a better way. Further suicidal behavior and depression have a complex bidirectional association, and therefore it becomes more difficult to interpret the results.2

We appreciate the stratified random sampling technique with probability proportionate to size; however, this has limited the exploration of the association of coping strategies with the academic year. Authors discussed their findings as “The second strongest predictor for suicidal behavior in medical students was depression.” Although it is an important finding, in a cross-sectional study, it is not possible to predict the “cause-effect relationship,” and therefore longitudinal follow-up studies are more relevant in this context.3 Even in the longitudinal studies, the risk factors associated with the outcome of interest are subjected to statistical analysis such as interaction, effect modification, or mediation analysis while predicting a change in a complex behavioral pattern such as suicidality.4 To add further, a few specific risk factors unique to this subgroup such as accessibility to medications, self-prescriptions, the area of specialty, staying away from home, ragging, etc. could influence the outcome of interest have not been discussed by authors.5 6 Reductionistic concepts of risk factors of suicidality, the cross-sectional design of the study, single-center responses, and response bias related to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic are important factors that one should keep in mind while interpreting the results of this study.

Conflict of Interest

None declared.

References

  1. , , , , . Epidemiological risk factors of suicidal behavior and effects of the components of coping strategies on suicidal behavior in medical students: A North-Indian institution-based cross-sectional study. J Neurosci Rural Pract. 2022;13(3):382-392.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. , , , et al . Bi-directional longitudinal associations between different types of bullying victimization, suicide ideation/attempts, and depression among a large sample of European adolescents. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2019;60(2):209-215.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. , , . Cause and effect: optimizing the designs of longitudinal studies in occupational health psychology. Work Stress. 2014;28(1):1-8.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. , , , , , . Effect modification, interaction and mediation: an overview of theoretical insights for clinical investigators. Clin Epidemiol. 2017;9:331-338.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. , , , . A narrative review of suicide and suicidal behavior in medical students. Indian J Psychiatry. 2020;62(3):250-256.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. , , , , . Suicide among Indian doctors. Indian J Psychiatry. 2021;63(3):279-284.
    [Google Scholar]

Fulltext Views
1,691

PDF downloads
276
View/Download PDF
Download Citations
BibTeX
RIS
Show Sections