Improving detection of suicidal ideation among depressed patients in primary care

Primary care clinicians have difficulty detecting suicidal patients. This report evaluates the effect of 2 primary care interventions on the detection and subsequent referral or treatment of patients with depression and recent suicidal ideation.

Adult patients in 12 mixed-payer primary care practices and 9 not-for-profit staff model health maintenance organization (HMO) practices were screened for depression. Matched practices were randomized within plan type to intervention or usual care. The intervention for mixed-payer practices entailed brief training of physicians and office nurses to provide care management. The intervention for HMO practices consisted of guided development of quality improvement teams for depression care. A total of 880 enrolled patients met study criteria for depression, 232 of whom met criteria for recent suicidal ideation. Intervention effects on suicide detection and referral to mental health specialty care were evaluated with mixed-effects multilevel models in intent-to-treat analyses.

Depressed patients with recent suicidal ideation were detected on 40.7% of index visits in intervention practices, compared with 20.5% in usual care practices (odds ratio = 2.64, 95% confidence interval, 1.45-5.07), with HMO plan type and male sex associated with detection. The interventions had no effect on referral of patients, starting an antidepressant, or suicidal ideation reported at a 6-month follow-up, although power was limited for all 3 analyses.

Primary care interventions to improve depression care can improve detection of recent suicidal ideation. Further work is needed to improve physician response to detection, including referral to specialty care and more aggressive treatment, and to observe the effect on outcomes.