Who are likely to attempt suicide again? A comparative study between the first and multiple timers

Abstract

Background Various explanations account for suicide incidents, and some patients continue to attempt afterwards and others never again. The suicide mortality rate increases with the number of serious attempts. The prevention of secondary attempt of suicide should be an important approach to reduce suicide mortality. However, the characteristics of the targeted population of repeated suicide attempters are understudied. Methods This was a cross-sectional data collection from hospital emergency room from patients who had either attempted suicide for the first time (n=721) or for two or more times (n=70). The subjects were between 14–53 years old and comprised 293 males and 498 females. In-depth interview was conducted for each suicide attempter with a semi-structural protocol. Demographic and social-psychological characteristics were compared between the two groups of suicide attempters. Logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of multiple attempts. Findings The two groups only differed in religion factor among demographic characteristics and multiple suicide attempters group have a higher percentage of subjects who reported to have a religion affiliation than first time suicide attempters. Multiple attempters were more likely to have family suicide history, physical illness, mental disorder, higher scores on Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) and Suicide Intent Scale (SIS) and lower scores on Duke Social Support Scale (DSSI). In the final regression model, family history of suicide, mental disorder, hopelessness and social support emerged as significant predictors of multiple suicide attempts. Conclusion Suicide attempters that have mental disorder, family history of suicide, higher level of hopelessness and lower level of social support are more likely to re-attempt suicide again. Social and clinical interventions may have to also focus on this sub-group of patients with these characteristics to effectively reduce suicide mortality rate.

Detection of Rhabdomyolysis in Patients Admitted to Emergency Department due to Drug Overdose as a Suicide Attempt: A Propective Original Clinical Study

“…The female/male ratio was reported to be 0.58 in cases who were presented to the emergency department with a suicide attempt in a survey from China while suicide prevalence was found as 79:100.000 with a female/male ratio of 3 in a study from Thailand. 19,20 In our study, the incidence of suicide was higher in female than in male subjects, but the number and types of drugs ingested were found to be higher in male than in female subjects. This shows that male subjects are using more efficient methods for suicide attempts and have a higher risk of severe complications such as rhabdomyolysis.…”

Single and multiple suicide attempts: Prevalence and correlates in school-going adolescents in Liberia in 2017

“…In agreement with previous studies [20,21,23,24], this study found an association between loneliness, no close friends, bullying victimization, interpersonal violence and single and/or multiple suicide attempt. Several researchers [13,14] emphasised the importance of mental disorder and/or hopelessness in predicting multiple suicide attempts. These ndings suggest the importance of treating psychosocial distress and prevention of bullying victimization and interpersonal violence in order to prevent suicide.…”

Combining green cards, telephone calls and postcards into an intervention algorithm to reduce suicide reattempt (AlgoS): P-hoc analyses of an inconclusive randomized controlled trial

“…Likewise, the number of post-card sent was small, and the efficacy of post-cards is still equivoque in the literature [4,16,19–21]. In other studies, multiple attempters were found to show higher intentionality in their attempts, higher levels of psychopathology, and higher risk of reattempt than first-time attempters [22,23].…”