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Gender differences in the association of mixed anxiety and depression with suicide.
- Robert G Goldney (8 August 2008)
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Robert G Goldney, Psychiatrist University of Adelaide
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robert.goldney{at}adelaide.edu.au Robert G Goldney
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25th June 2008 The Editor Professor P Tyrer The British Journal of Psychiatry Dear Professor Tyrer Attached is brief correspondence for consideration for publication in the Correspondence section of the British Journal of Psychiatry. It is in response to a ‘Short report’ which in my view makes a lot of what is essential a non significant result. Thank you for your consideration. Yours faithfully Professor R D Goldney Gender differences in the association of mixed anxiety and depression with suicide. Bjerkeset et al provide an interesting perspective in the progressive interpretation of data1. In their results they note that there was ‘no statistical evidence of a difference in gender-specific associations’. At the beginning of the discussion they again assert that ‘there was no statistical evidence to support such a difference’. However, by the end of the discussion ‘these findings provide some support’, and in the boxed summary the ‘statistical evidence for a difference was weak’. Finally, the title becomes ‘Gender differences in the association of mixed anxiety and depression with suicide’, which the casual reader might well interpret as there being such a difference. When one considers that all of these words relate to a p value of 0.4, one can only marvel at the way in which the interpretation has evolved! Reference 1. Bjerkeset O, Romundstad P, Gunnell D. Gender differences in the association of mixed anxiety and depression with suicide. Br J Psychiatry 2008; 192:474-5 Robert D Goldney, Discipline of Psychiatry, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia. Email: robert.goldney@adelaide.edu.au |
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