The largest-ever study of suicide indicates that people born in spring and summer are more likely to kill themselves.

The analysis of 26,915 suicides in England and Wales between 1979 and 2001, published yesterday in the British Journal of Psychiatry, suggests that those born in the brighter months of the year are on average 17% more likely to kill themselves.

The increased likelihood was highest among women, who were nearly 30% more likely to take their own lives if they were born during April, May or June than if they were born in autumn or early winter.