Citation

Hasegawa H, Yamada T, Sato R, Kato D, Kishida I, Furuno T, Suda A, Sugiyama N, Odawara T, Hirayasu Y, Kawanishi C. Psychiatr. Danub. 2006; 18(Suppl 1): 135.

Affiliation

Psychiatric Center, Yokohama City University Medical Center, 4-57 Urafune-cho Minami-ku, 232-0024 Yokohama, Japan. (hanaha@urahp.yokohama-cu.ac.jp)

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Facultas Universitatis Studiorum Zagrabiensis - Danube Symposion of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16964118

Abstract

In Japan, suicide victims have exceeded 30,000 a year since 1998. A previous suicide attempt is a potential risk of succeeding in suicide. Nearly all lethal suicide attempters are known to share common characteristics with suicide victims; therefore, an investigation of attempters provides important information for suicide prevention. In this study, we assessed suicide attempters at an emergency medical center in Yokohama, the second biggest city in Japan, from a psychiatric point view, particularly focusing on a previous history of psychiatric treatment. Suicide attempters were sequentially examined in the Critical and Emergency Center, Yokohama City University Medical Center from April 2003 to March 2005. Two hundred twenty-two were interviewed to obtain socio-demographic data, and were diagnosed according to DSM-IV. We observed differences between patients with and without a history of psychiatric treatment. The " no treatment group" tended to be male, older, less educated, and more employed. Further multivariate study revealed that living alone, being unemployed, having economic problems, or severe psychotic diseases were associated with longer hospital stay. Understanding the characteristics of nearly lethal suicide attempters including their history of psychiatric treatment is one of the clues to suicide prevention measures.

Language: en