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Risk of suicide after attempted suicide in the population of Slovenia from 1970 to 1996

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Slavko Ziherl  and
Bojan Zalar
Slavko Ziherl*
Affiliation:
University Psychiatric Hospital Ljubljana, Studenec 48, 1260Ljubljana, Slovenia
Bojan Zalar
Affiliation:
University Psychiatric Hospital Ljubljana, Studenec 48, 1260Ljubljana, Slovenia
*
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +386 1 587 2467; fax: +386 1 529 4111. E-mail address: slavko.ziherl@psih-klinika.si (S. Ziherl).
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Abstract

Objective:

All suicide attempts cannot predict suicide, therefore we examined those characteristics of suicide attempt which could most accurately predict completed suicide.

Subject and methods:

Subjects were all individuals registered as committed suicides (N = 16,522) or attempted suicides (N = 15,057) in the register of suicides of the Republic of Slovenia between 1970 and 1996. Log linear analysis of a frequency table was used to uncover relationship between categorical variables.

Results:

The model we found fit between variables: mode, number of repetitions and type, then between number of repetitions, type and gender, and between mode, type and gender.

Discussion:

The risk of suicide in those who previously attempted suicide is approximately 773 times higher than the risk of suicide without a previous suicide attempt. Those who attempt suicide by hanging (hanging being in Slovenia the most frequent mode of completed suicide) are at even greater risk to commit suicide.

Conclusion:

Our data suggests that clinicians should heighten their awareness that any suicide attempt can in some 20% predict suicide. Someone who has attempted suicide by hanging is at the highest risk of suicide.

Keywords

SuicideSuicide attemptPrediction of suicide
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 21 , Issue 6 , September 2006 , pp. 396 - 400
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier SAS 2006

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