Socioeconomic and clinical characteristics associated with repeat suicide attempts among young people

Repeat suicidal behaviors in young people are a critical public health concern. The study investigates individual socioeconomic and episode-dependent clinical factors predicting repeat suicide attempts among youth by gender.

Using a retrospective cohort study, we identified a total of 4,094 male and 3,219 female youths who had the index suicide episode at the ages of 15-24 years from the 1996-2007 National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. The recurrence of suicide attempt was assessed within 1 year after the index suicide. Information pertaining to suicide management and postsuicide treatment was obtained from healthcare records. Repeated event survival analyses were used to estimate episode-dependent risk of suicide attempt.

The occurrence of repeat suicide attempts was more common in males, yet the phenomenon of risk aggravation appears more prominent in females. The estimate for peak hazard of the second repeat attempt was 2-fold higher than that of the first repeat event in males, and approximately 6-fold in females. Socioeconomic (e.g., labor market participation: adjusted Hazard Ratio [aHR] = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.01-1.28) and index suicide management characteristics (e.g., receiving treatment at clinic, aHR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.19-1.99) were found to play important roles for repeat suicide attempts in males. For females, postsuicide treatment of mental disorders appears more influential.

The relationships between socioeconomic and clinical factors with repeat suicide attempts in young people vary by gender. School/workplace-based post suicide attempt consultation and clinical management for youth may be planned and delivered on a gender-appropriate basis.