Survey links anxiety to recent suicidal ideation among Bangladeshi ever-married women

The study included 19,972 women aged 15–49 who participated in the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2022. Overall, 8.3% reported suicidal ideation within the previous two weeks. Women who met the study’s threshold for elevated anxiety had 22.4 times the adjusted odds of reporting ideation compared with women below that threshold.

Researchers used multivariable logistic regression to estimate adjusted odds ratios, allowing the reported associations to account for other variables included in each statistical model. Suicidal ideation was assessed using item 9 of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the PHQ-9, while anxiety symptoms were evaluated with the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale, or GAD-7. A GAD-7 score of at least 10 was classified as elevated anxiety.

The anxiety association was estimated at an adjusted odds ratio of 22.4, with a 95% confidence interval from 15.99 to 31.47. Internet access was associated with lower, rather than higher, adjusted odds of suicidal ideation. Ever-married women with internet access had an adjusted odds ratio of 0.6 relative to women without access, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.37 to 0.97.

This estimate represents an association in the survey analysis, not a demonstration that providing internet access would prevent suicidal thoughts. The evidence also does not establish what mechanism might connect digital access with the reported outcome. Because the analysis used survey data and multivariable regression to identify relationships, the results do not establish that anxiety causes suicidal ideation, that internet access reduces it, or that either factor would produce the same outcome under an intervention.

The scope was restricted to ever-married Bangladeshi women aged 15–49 represented in the 2022 BDHS, and the estimates should be interpreted within that population and survey setting. The study’s conclusion emphasized the mental health burden associated with anxiety and suicidal ideation among Bangladeshi women. The authors proposed that routine anxiety screening and psychosocial support within health services, alongside efforts to promote digital access, could strengthen suicide-prevention efforts.

Those proposals are conclusions of the research rather than evidence that screening, support or digital-access programs have already been shown to reduce suicidal ideation or suicide in the surveyed population.

Subject of Research: Survey analysis of anxiety symptoms, internet access and suicidal ideation among ever-married women aged 15–49 in Bangladesh

Article Title: Suicidal ideation among ever-married women: evidence from a nationally representative survey

Article References: Manna, R. M., Rahman, H., Chandra, P., Saha, A., Anjum, A., Usmani, N. G., Shomik, M. S., Ahmed, A., Arifeen, S. E., Rahman, A. E., & Hossain, A. T. (2026). Suicidal ideation among ever-married women: evidence from a nationally representative survey. BMC Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05488-0

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s40359-026-05488-0

Keywords: suicidal ideation, anxiety symptoms, Bangladesh, ever-married women, national survey, BDHS 2022, internet access, mental health, Suicidal, ideation, ever-married, women