Suicidal attempters and non-attempters with bipolar disorder in Iran

This is the study of the prevalence of suicidal attempt and its demographic association in bipolar disorder (BPD) subjects in an emergency department in a non-Western culture. The subjects were 176 adults with DSM-IV BPD-type I (BPD-I). The mean age was 30.2 years and 66.2% of them were male. About 33.9% of the subjects made a suicidal attempt at least once in their life. The majority of suicide attempters (69.8%) had only one suicidal attempt. Lifetime suicidal attempts were not associated with age, gender, level of education, residential area, and type of occupation. The rate of suicidal attempt in the bipolar patients is very high and it is very similar to the rates reported in other cultures. It seems that the association of suicidal attempt in BPD is less related to the culture than the disorder itself.