Surveillance of attempted suicide among adolescents in Oregon, 1988

In January 1988, Oregon became the first state to require hospital-based reporting of attempted suicide (AS) in all adolescents less than 18 years old. From January to December 1988, 644 cases of AS were reported (annual rate of 214 per 100,000 population, ages 10 to 17 years). We compared these 644 cases of AS with all 137 Oregon adolescents less than 18 years old who committed suicide in Oregon during the 10-year-period 1979 through 1988, and found that the strongest predictor of outcome was method used.