Medical disorders of suicides in Australia: analysis using a multiple-cause-of-death approach
Lado T. Ruzicka, Ching Y., Choi and Krys Sadkowsky

The impaired health of a person who has committed suicide is often suggested among the proximate causes of suicidal behaviour. The introduction in 1997 of multiple-cause-of-death coding by the Australian Bureau of Statistics provided an opportunity to examine health impairments recorded on the death certificates of suicides. Data for the quinquennium 1997–2001 revealed a high prevalence of mental and behavioural disorders, in particular among women and among young and adolescent suicides. Comparison of multiple causes of death attributed to those who died in accidents with those recorded as suicides revealed that of the chronic and terminal illnesses, HIV and cancer were probably the conditions likely to trigger suicidal action.

Social Science & Medicine Volume 61, Issue 2 , July 2005, Pages 333-341

Depression Gene May Weaken Mood-Regulating Circuit
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/press/shortcircuit.cfm

A brain scan study suggests that a suspect gene may increase susceptibility to anxiety and depression by weakening a circuit for processing negative emotion. People with the depression-linked gene variant showed less gray matter and weaker connections in the mood-regulating circuit. How well the circuit was connected accounted for nearly 30 percent of their anxious temperament, researchers at the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) found. Dr. Daniel Weinberger and colleagues report on their brain imaging genetics study in the May 8, 2005 online edition of Nature Neuroscience.