Abstract

Background: Comorbidity of suicidal behavior with various risk factors has been reported. This study examines the combined effect and the interactions of the most prominent risk factors in hospitalized suicide attempters. The existence of psychiatric disorder, coffee and alcohol consumption in suicide attempters, cigarette smoking in suicide attempters and their parents, as well as other conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention and psychosocial and environmental problems of the attempters were surveyed in this study. Method: Seventy-six successive hospitalized suicide attempters and 76 matched controls, 9-20 year-old, were subjected to DSM-IV Axis I and II diagnoses and were interviewed for the use of licit and illicit substances. Also, 18 controls with the same psychiatric disorders diagnosed in the attempters were used. Logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the independent effect of the risk factors to suicide attempts. Results: The findings showed an 18-fold greater frequency of psychiatric disorders, a 14-fold greater frequency of other conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention (mainly relational problems), a 9.7-fold greater frequency of smoking, and a 4.7-fold greater frequency of psychosocial and environmental problems in the attempters than in the controls. The independent association of these factors with increased suicide risk persisted after adjusting for the effect of other factors. Conclusions: Psychopathology, psychosocial factors and smoking are independently associated with increased risk for serious suicide attempts.

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