[Comparison of the characteristics of suicide attempters treated in general hospitals with and without prior suicide attempts].

OBJECTIVE

We compared the characteristics of persons who had made multiple versus single suicide attempts to determine whether or not these are two independent subgroups and, thus, should be provided with different preventive services.

METHODS

We administered a 2 - 3 hour interview that included a structured psychiatric examination to 325 individuals with suicide attempts who were treated at four city and county-level general hospitals.

RESULTS

The age, gender, years of education, marital status, work status, and family economic status of the 52 persons who had made more than one suicide attempt were similar to those of the 273 persons who had made a single attempt. But repeaters were less likely than non-repeaters to live in rural villages and to attempt suicide by ingesting agricultural poisons. Moreover, repeaters considered suicide prior to the attempt for a longer time, had a lower quality of life in the prior month, had a stronger suicidal intent, had more chronic life events, had a higher chronic stress score, and were more likely to have mental illness (P's all < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Major differences in the characteristics of suicide attempters with and without a prior history of suicide attempts suggest that these are independent subgroups of attempters. These two types of attempted suicide require different preventive approaches.