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REVIEW article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1444820
This article is part of the Research Topic New Insights into Social Isolation and Loneliness, Volume II View all articles

Assessment of the relationship between living alone and suicidal behaviors based on prospective studies: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Provisionally accepted
Zhipeng Luo Zhipeng Luo 1Jinfeng Wang Jinfeng Wang 2*Xu Chen Xu Chen 3Dejin Cheng Dejin Cheng 2Yuanyuan Zhou Yuanyuan Zhou 4
  • 1 Yibin Third People's Hospital, Yibin, Sichuan Province, China
  • 2 Second People’s Hospital of Yibin, Yibin, China
  • 3 West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 4 Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Suicide, a global health concern, can be influenced by living arrangements. Hence, the objective of this systematic review was to assess the extent of the association between living alone and suicidal behaviors. We conducted a comprehensive search across eight databases for prospective studies. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals were pooled using Stata software. 9 large-scale prospective studies with 3,663,205 participants proved eligible. The results of the meta-analysis showed that the pooled prevalence of living alone was 32%. Living alone was associated with suicide attempts and suicide death even after adjusting for all potential confounding factors. (AHR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.13–1.77; AHR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.06–1.48). Compared to people who live with others, living alone increases the risk of suicide behaviors. Given the anticipated global rise in suicide rates and the growing prevalence of living alone, it is recommended to explore this issue on a broader scale.

    Keywords: Living alone, Suicide behaviors, Prospective Studies, Systematic review, Meta-analysis

    Received: 10 Jun 2024; Accepted: 20 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Luo, Wang, Chen, Cheng and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jinfeng Wang, Second People’s Hospital of Yibin, Yibin, China

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