Comparative analysis of suicide attempt deaths and suicide survivors at one university hospital

¹Department of Emergency Medicine, Kangwon National University Hospital, Chuncheon, Korea
²Department of Emergency Medicine, Kangwon National University School of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea
³Department of Psychiatry, Kangwon National University School of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea
⁴Department of Internal Medicine, Kangwon National University School of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea
⁵Department of Radiology, Kangwon National University School of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea

Correspondence

Chanwoo Park ,Tel: 033-258-2438, Fax: 033-258-2451, Email: bonaeboa@naver.com,

Received: June 27, 2019; Revised: September 4, 2019 Accepted: November 11, 2019. Published online: February 28, 2020.

ABSTRACT

Objective:
This study analyzed the characteristics of people who attempted suicide that resulted in deaths as compared to that of the suicide survivors.
Method:
This study included 799 suicide attempts that occurred from March 1, 2015, to March 31, 2019 at the emergency department of the university hospital in a city of around 300,000 people. Suicide attempts were classified into the survivor and death groups, and the characteristics of each group were compared. The suicide deaths due to re-attempts were also analyzed.
Results:
There were more males than females in the death groups. There was a high proportion of people aged 50 or older in the death groups. Hanging, carbon monoxide poisoning, and jumping from great heights were the most commonly used methods of suicide in the death groups. In the selected death group, psychiatric symptom, physical illness, and economic problem among the suicidal causes and depressive disorder among the psychiatric diagnoses were factors that increase the risk of suicide death. Sixty-three point four percent of the survival groups and 52.5% of the selected deaths had not received psychiatric care. On the analysis of suicide deaths due to re-attempts, the average number of suicide attempts was 2.45±0.9. The time from the first suicide attempt to the last suicide attempt was 13.8±10.4 months.
Conclusion:
If it is necessary to make a treatment decision for a suicide attempt in a limited time, such as the case of treating a suicide attempter who visits an emergency department, it is necessary to consider the characteristic factors of the death attempts of suicidal people.

Key words: Suicide; Death; Emergencies