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The aim of this study was to estimate the extent to which anxiety disorders contribute to an increase in suicidal behaviour after controlling for both observed and non-observed sources of confounding.

Data were collected from the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS), a 25-year longitudinal study of over 1000 participants. Measures of anxiety disorders [phobia, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder], major depression (MD), substance use disorders, conduct/antisocial personality disorder, stressful life events, unemployment, and suicidal ideation/attempts for subjects aged 16–18, 18–21 and 21–25 years were used to fit random and fixed effects regression models of the associations between anxiety disorders and suicidal behaviours.

Anxiety disorders were strongly associated with suicidal ideation/attempts. Any single anxiety disorder increased the odds of …