Suicide risk after a suicide attempt

doi:10.1136/bmj.a2512

Published 18 November 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2512
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2512

Editorials

Suicide risk after a suicide attempt

Is highest in people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Two linked studies explore the risk of non-fatal self harm afterdischarge from a psychiatric hospital and the factors associatedwith the risk of suicide after a suicide attempt.¹ ² Suicideis one of the 10 leading causes of death worldwide and willrepresent about 2.4% of the global burden of disease by 2020,with about 1.5 million people dying from suicide each year.³Making the prevention of suicide a health service and publichealth priority is justified on medical, ethical, and cost effectivenessgrounds.⁴ ⁵

Previous attempts at suicide increase the risk of suicide 30-40times.⁶ A history of deliberate self harm is the strongest predictorof future suicidal behaviour.⁷ A systematic review found that16% of patients who attended an accident and emergency departmentas a result of deliberate self harm repeated this behaviourand 1.8% died by suicide.⁸

On the basis of a large Swedish cohort study of almost . . . [Full text of this article]

Udo Reulbach, senior researcher¹, Stefan Bleich, medical director and head of department²

¹ National Suicide Research Foundation. College Road, Cork, Ireland, ² Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School of Hannover, 30625 Hannover, Germany

udo.nsrf@iol.ie

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