Past suicidal ideation as an independent risk factor for suicide behaviours in patients with depression

As South Korea has the highest incidence of completed suicides, the present study aimed to investigate the predictive power of the variables that have been associated with suicide attempts in Korean patients diagnosed with depression.

Hundred participants were divided into two groups: suicide attempters (31%) and suicide non-attempters (69%). Participants with a history of more than one suicidal attempt were assigned to the suicide attempter group. A hierarchical logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the predictive strengths of the variables that were likely to be associated with suicide attempts.

After controlling for the effects of such variables as the severity of depressive symptoms, life stress events and impulsivity, the severity of past suicidal ideation was the most important predictive factor for discriminating suicide attempters from suicide non-attempters. The odds ratio for attempting suicide relative to not attempting suicide increased by a factor of 4.408 for each unit of increase in suicidal ideation.

The present study suggests that the most severe suicidal ideation throughout one's entire life should not be overlooked and may be a major predictor of the risk of suicide.