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BALTIMORE, Mar 23, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study suggests women who are HIV-positive or have been abused are more likely to consider suicide.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins, George Washington University and St. Michael's Hospital, in Toronto, Canada, analyzed data from Project WAVE (Women, AIDS and the Violence Epidemic). They examined the rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts and compared how the rates relate to women's HIV and abuse experiences. The women were all living in low-income, urban neighborhoods in Baltimore, Md.
Thirty-one percent of the 611 women interviewed reported suicidal thoughts and 16 percent reported having attempted suicide. Abused women were four times more likely than non-abused women to have thought about suicide.
The researchers also found that, among HIV-positive women, those recently diagnosed thought about suicide more frequently.
One-half of the study participants reported problems with depression and 26 percent reported problems with anxiety. Twenty-four percent of non-abused, HIV-negative women had problems with depression, whereas 72 percent of abused, HIV-positive women reported the same.
The study is published in the March/April 2005 issue of Women's Health Issues.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International.
