People who have experienced sexual abuse in childhood are three times as likely to attempt suicide compared with peers, a landmark study shows.

In what is claimed to be the first comprehensive review of childhood maltreatment and suicidality, the UK researchers also found double the odds of suicide attempts after physical or emotional abuse and nearly double after emotional or physical neglect.

The systematic review and meta-analysis drew on 79 studies involving more than 330,000 children and young adults up to the age of 24 who had experienced abuse or neglect before the age of 18, including Australians.

The researchers found a 3.4-fold increased risk of suicide attempts for children who had experienced sexual abuse and a similarly high rate for ‘combined abuse’. However, many of the studies had low methodological quality.