Citation

Chang HJ, Lai YL, Chang CM, Kao CC, Shyu ML, Lee MB. Community Ment. Health J. 2012; 48(6): 771-780.

Affiliation

School of Nursing, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10597-011-9470-1

PMID

22105719

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to explore gender and age differences in the use of medical services during the year preceding suicide. Data were obtained from the mortality dataset of Department of Health and National Health Insurance Database. Included in the sample were 862 persons aged 12-24 years who committed suicide in Taiwan between 2001 and 2004. We compared the records of medical service utilization of adolescents (ages 12-18 years) with young adults (ages 19-24 years). Persons in both age groups contacted general practitioners more often than other types of medical providers in the year preceding suicide, with the exception of the month before suicide. Females made greater use of medical services than males in both age groups. Suicide prevention strategies should increase the emphasis in training non-psychiatric medical practitioners to identify and treat young persons at suicide risk.

Language: en