OBJECTIVE: To quantify the suicide rate among people discharged from non-psychiatric facilities after presentations with suicidal thoughts or behaviours.
METHOD: Meta-analysis of studies reporting suicide deaths among people with suicidal thoughts or behaviours after discharge from non-psychiatric settings.
RESULTS: 115 studies reported 167 cohorts including a total of 3 747 suicide deaths among 248 005 patients during 1 263 727 person-years. The pooled suicide rate post-discharge was 483 suicide deaths per 100,000 person-years (95% confidence interval (CI) 445 - 520, prediction interval (PI) 200 to 770) with high between sample heterogeneity (I2 =92). The suicide rate was highest in the first year post-discharge (851 per 100 000 person-years) but remained elevated in the long term. Suicide rates were elevated among samples of men (716 per 100 000 person-years) and older people (799 per 100 000 person-years) but were lower in samples of younger people (107 per 100 000 person-years) and among studies published between 2010 and 2018 (329 per 100 000 person-years).
CONCLUSIONS: People with suicidal thoughts or behaviours who are discharged from non-psychiatric facilities have highly elevated rates of suicide despite a clinically meaningful decline in reported suicide rates post-discharge from non-psychiatric settings in recent decades. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.