Identifying unique subgroups in suicide risks among psychiatric outpatients.

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• Psychiatric disorders are primary risk factors for suicide.
• Many psychiatric outpatients experience suicidal behaviors, from ideation to attempts.
• Understanding transdiagnostic symptom dimensions is crucial for suicide risk assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify distinct subgroups of psychiatric outpatients based on suicide risk.
• To elucidate transdiagnostic symptom dimensions and associated suicidal features.
• To inform personalized interventions for suicide prevention.

Main Methods:

• A data-driven classification methodology was used.
• 1,849 outpatients from a tertiary hospital in South Korea were enrolled.
• 1,189 patients with suicidality were classified into clusters and compared to 660 without suicidality.

Main Results:

• Three clusters emerged: low-suicide risk (Cluster 1), high-suicide risk externalizing (Cluster 2), and high-suicide risk internalizing (Cluster 3).
• Clusters differed in sociodemographic, suicide-related, and clinical characteristics (anxiety, externalizing/internalizing behaviors, hopelessness).
• Cluster 2 showed externalizing symptoms (bipolar disorders common), while Cluster 3 showed internalizing symptoms and hopelessness (depressive disorders common).

Conclusions:

• Psychiatric outpatients can be differentiated into clinically relevant subgroups based on suicide risk.
• Personalized interventions targeting cluster-specific characteristics may mitigate suicide-related mortality.
• This research supports tailored suicide prevention strategies for diverse patient profiles.