Citation

Park S, Lee Y, Youn T, Kim BS, Park JI, Kim H, Lee HC, Hong JP. BMC Public Health 2018; 18(1): e477.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 81 Irwon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 06351, South Korea. suhurhong@gmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/s12889-018-5387-8

PMID

29642887

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Past attempted suicide is a strong predictor of future suicide risk, but the risk varies among suicide attempters. Hence, it is important to clarify distinguishing features of lifetime attempters with a high level of current suicide risk for efficient preventive management.

METHODS: We compared characteristics of suicide attempts and clinical characteristics among high-, moderate-, and low-risk attempters. Among the total of 6022 participants in the Korean Epidemiologic Catchment Area study, 193 reported a suicide attempt in their lifetime, 36 of which had high, 126 moderate, and 30 low levels of current suicide risk (1 incomplete response).

RESULTS: High-risk suicide attempters had more past attempts compared with moderate- and low-risk suicide attempters. Suicide attempts were closely linked to a wide range of psychiatric comorbidities regardless of degree of current level of suicide risk, but the relative risk for having at least one mental disorder was the highest in high-risk attempters. Specifically, the relative risks for depressive disorder, anxiety disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders were higher in high-risk attempters, and relative risk for somatoform disorder was higher in low-risk attempters than others.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicated that special attention is required for suicide attempters with a history of repeated attempts and current mental disorders, particularly anxiety disorders.

Language: en

Keywords

Korea; Suicide attempt; Suicide risk