Association between sensory impairment and suicidal ideation and attempt: a cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative English household data

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Abstract
Objectives Sensory impairments are associated with worse mental health and poorer quality of life, but few studies have investigated whether sensory impairment is associated with suicidal behaviour in a population sample. We investigated whether visual and hearing impairments were associated with suicidal ideation and attempt. Design National cross-sectional study. Setting Households in England. Participants We analysed data for 7546 household residents in England, aged 16 and over from the 2014 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. Exposures Sensory impairment (either visual or hearing), Dual sensory impairment (visual and hearing), visual impairment, hearing impairment. Primary outcome Suicidal ideation and suicide attempt in the past year. Results People with visual or hearing sensory impairments had twice the odds of past-year suicidal ideation (OR 2.06; 95% CI 1.17 to 2.73; pConclusions We found evidence that individuals with sensory impairments are more likely to have thought about or attempted suicide in the past year than individuals without.

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