Citation

Miret M, Nuevo R, Morant C, Sainz-Cortón E, Jiménez-Arriero MA, López-Ibor JJ, Reneses B, Saiz-Ruiz J, Baca-Garcia E, Ayuso-Mateos JL. Crisis 2011; 32(2): 65-73.

Affiliation

Psychiatry Department, Autónoma University of Madrid, La Princesa University Hospital, Madrid, Spain Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación en Red de Salud Mental, CIBERSAM, Spain

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Publisher Hogrefe Publishing)

DOI

10.1027/0227-5910/a000050

PMID

21616755

Abstract

Background: Suicide prevention can be improved by knowing which variables physicians take into account when considering hospitalization or discharge of patients who have attempted suicide. Aims: To test whether suicide risk is an adequate explanatory variable for predicting admission to a psychiatric unit after a suicide attempt. Methods: Analyses of 840 clinical records of patients who had attempted suicide (66.3% women) at four public general hospitals in Madrid (Spain). Results: 180 (21.4%) patients were admitted to psychiatric units. Logistic regression analyses showed that explanatory variables predicting admission were: male gender; previous psychiatric hospitalization; psychiatric disorder; not having a substance-related disorder; use of a lethal method; delay until discovery of more than one hour; previous attempts; suicidal ideation; high suicidal planning; and lack of verbalization of adequate criticism of the attempt. Conclusions: Suicide risk appears to be an adequate explanatory variable for predicting the decision to admit a patient to a psychiatric ward after a suicide attempt, although the introduction of other variables improves the model. These results provide additional information regarding factors involved in everyday medical practice in emergency settings.

Language: en