Does the physician density affect suicide rates among adolescents and young adults?

Abstract

Higher physician-per-population ratio may improve access to medical care, decrease waiting times, increase the opportunity for contact between the patient and physician, and has been associated with earlier stage of diagnosis and better prognosis in patients with some medical conditions. It appears that an increase in the physician density generally improves the quality of healthcare and should prevent suicides. However, several research reports suggest that of those people who committed suicide, many saw a physician shortly before their suicide completion. Besides, studies show that many physicians do not have adequate training in suicide evaluation techniques and treatment approaches to suicidal patients, especially young people. Therefore, we hypothesized that the physician density does not affect suicide rates among adolescents and young adults. Correlations were computed to examine relationships between suicide rates in 15-24-year-old and 25-34-year-old males and females and the physician density in European countries. Countries were also divided into two groups, according to the median split of the physician density. Suicide rates among 15-24-year-old and 25-34-year-old males and females in these two groups were compared using the t-test. We found no relationships between suicide rates and the physician density. The results of our study suggest that either physicians do not take an appropriate care of suicidal patients, or suicide is not preventable, or both. The results of this study should be treated with caution because many confounding variables are not taken into account.