Psychiatric Co-Morbidities of Suicide Attempters: A Cross Sectional Observation in a Tertiary Care Hospital of North India

Abstract

Background: Psychiatric disorders are at increased risk for suicide. Attempted suicide is a common clinical problem in a general hospital. It has a serious clinical and socio-economical impact too. Aims: This study was carried out to assess the prevalence of psychiatric co-morbidities of suicide attempters attending the emergency. Material and methods: This study was a cross sectional, observational study which was conducted at the Community General Hospital Unit, Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences-Kashmir an associated hospital of Government Medical College Srinagar among the suicide patients attending the outpatient service and inpatient services of the hospital fulfilling inclusion and exclusion criteria over a period of one and a half year, from November 2017 to May 2019. Written informed consent was obtained in a simple and easily understandable unambiguous language. For the diagnosis of psychiatric comorbidity, we used MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview Schedule Plus (MINI PLUS). A p-value of <0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: A total of 221 cases who had been admitted following unsuccessful suicide attempts to the emergency and psychiatry department were taken up for the study. They were evaluated in detail with regards to past attempt of suicide, family history of psychiatric illness or suicide and the presence of psychiatric co-morbidity and the results have been presented below in tabulated and graphical forms. 77.4% of the attempters had no history of psychiatric illness in their family while 22.6% of patients did have family history of a psychiatric illness. 98.2% of attempters had no family history of suicide while 1.8% of the patients gave a family history of suicide. 21.26% males and 54.75% females had associated psychiatric co-morbidities and 23.9% had no associated psychiatric co-morbidities. Conclusion: The most common psychiatric morbidity associated with suicide was found to be major depressive disorder. Most importantly, the suicide attempters should be looked with sympathy rather than with a grimace on face. Such people should not be stigmatized and we should not let their shoulders drop. Keywords: Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Morbidity, Suicide.