Risk estimates and risk factors related to psychiatric inpatient suicide— An overview

Trine Madsen*, Annette Erlangsen, Merete Nordentoft

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

41 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

People with mental illness have an increased risk of suicide. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of suicide risk estimates among psychiatric inpatients based on the body of evidence found in scientific peer-reviewed literature; primarily focusing on the relative risks, rates, time trends, and socio-demographic and clinical risk factors of suicide in psychiatric inpatients. Psychiatric inpatients have a very high risk of suicide relative to the background population, but it remains challenging for clinicians to identify those patients that are most likely to die from suicide during admission. Most studies are based on low power, thus compromising quality and generalisability. The few studies with sufficient statistical power mainly identified non-modifiable risk predictors such as male gender, diagnosis, or recent deliberate self-harm. Also, the predictive value of these predictors is low. It would be of great benefit if future studies would be based on large samples while focusing on modifiable predictors over the course of an admission, such as hopelessness, depressive symptoms, and family/social situations. This would improve our chances of developing better risk assessment tools.

Original languageEnglish
Article number253
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume14
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2017
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Risk estimates and risk factors related to psychiatric inpatient suicide— An overview'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this