Emergency department admission and mortality rate for suicidal behavior: A follow-up study on attempted suicides referred to the ED between January 2004 and December 2010

Background: The international literature reports that for every completed suicide there are between 8 and 22 visits to an Emergency Department (ED) for attempted suicide/suicidal behavior. Aims: To describe the characteristics of admission to emergency departments (EDs) for suicide-related presenting complaints in the metropolitan area of Bologna; to estimate the risk for all-cause mortality and for suicide; to […]

The relationship between prior suicidal behavior and mortality among individuals in community corrections

Background: Individuals under community corrections have multiple risk factors for mortality including exposure to a criminal environment, drug use, social stress, and a lack of medical care that predispose them to accidents, homicides, medical morbidities, and suicide. The literature suggests that prior suicidal behavior may be a particularly potent risk factor for mortality among individuals in […]

Indigenous suicide rates in the United States, Australia and New Zealand between 2006 and 2019

Objective: Indigenous suicide prevention is an important focus for national health policies. Indigenous suicide rates in formerly colonial English-speaking countries such as the United States, Australia and New Zealand are considerably higher than the general population, particularly in young males. Given the similarities in their sociocultural history, a time series analysis was conducted to assess recent […]

Assessing the impact of suicide exclusion periods on life insurance

Background: We study the impact of suicide-exclusion periods, common in life insurance policies in Australia, on suicide and accidental death rates for life-insured individuals. If a life-insured individual dies by suicide during the period of suicide exclusion, commonly 13 months, the sum insured is not paid. Aims: We examine whether a suicide-exclusion period affects the timing of […]

Heat-related mortality in U.S. state and private prisons: A case-crossover analysis

Rising temperatures and heatwaves increase mortality. Many of the subpopulations most vulnerable to heat-related mortality are in prisons, facilities that may exacerbate temperature exposures. Yet, there is scare literature on the  impacts of heat among incarcerated populations. We analyzed data on mortality in U.S. state and private prisons from 2001–2019 linked to daily maximum temperature […]

Changes in pregnancy-associated deaths in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic had unique effects on pregnant and postpartum people: maternal deaths from obstetric causes increased 33% between April and December 2020 compared with previous years. That study, however, did not include deaths from nonobstetric causes among pregnant or postpartum people. Deaths  from drug overdose, suicide, and homicide represent large and growing proportions of […]

Sex differences in suicide mortality in Newfoundland and Labrador: An observational study with medical examiner data from 1997 to 2016

Background Globally, the suicide rate is two times higher for males than for females. Previous studies in Newfoundland and Labrador did not examine age-specific rates by sex. The objectives of this study were to determine suicide rates by  sex and age group and to compare the demographic and clinical characteristics of males and females who […]

Escalating costs of self-injury mortality in the 21st century United States: An interstate observational study

Background Estimating the economic costs of self-injury mortality (SIM) can inform health planning and clinical and public health interventions, serve as a basis for their evaluation, and provide the foundation for broadly disseminating evidence-based policies and practices. SIM is operationalized as a composite of all registered suicides at any age, and 80% of drug overdose […]

Long-term exposure to air pollution and mortality from dementia, psychiatric disorders, and suicide in a large pooled European cohort: ELAPSE study

Ambient air pollution is an established risk factor for premature mortality from chronic cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic diseases, while evidence on neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders remains limited. We examined the association between long-term exposure to air pollution and mortality from dementia, psychiatric disorders, and suicide in seven European cohorts. Within the multicenter project ‘Effects […]

Evaluating the effectiveness of components of national suicide prevention strategies: an interrupted time series analysis

Background: National suicide prevention strategies support development of suicide prevention activities and their evaluation. Aims: To describe components included in national suicide prevention strategies and analyze the potential contribution of individual components to reduce suicide rates. Method: We conducted a narrative review and statistical analysis of national suicide prevention strategies. The narrative review was based on a framework of […]

Are we undercounting the true burden of mortality related to suicide, alcohol use, or drug use? An analysis using death certificate data from Colorado veterans

Knowledge regarding deaths due to suicide or alcohol- or drug-related causes may be limited by inconsistent and/or restrictive case definitions, resulting in concerns regarding validity of findings and underestimates of burden. In this proof-of-concept study, we assessed varying case definitions (suicide, alcohol-related, and drug-related mortality using underlying-cause-of-death (UCOD) versus multiple-cause-of-death (MCOD) International Classification of Diseases, Tenth […]

Trends of suicide rates by gender and residence in China from 2002 to 2019

Objective: China has undergone tremendous social changes in the last few decades. This study aimed to research the trends of the suicide rates from 2002 to 2019, and to differentiate effects attributable to age, period, and cohort by gender and residence in China. Methods: Suicide mortality data were obtained from China’s Ministry of Health Vital Registration System. […]

Suicide and other causes of death among Chernobyl cleanup workers from Estonia, 1986 − 2020: An update

Mortality was studied in a cohort of 4831 men from Estonia who participated in the environmental cleanup of the radioactively contaminated areas around Chernobyl in 1986–1991. Their mortality in 1986–2020 was compared with the mortality in the Estonian male population. A total of 1503 deaths were registered among the 4812 traced men. The all-cause standardized […]

Effect of comorbid ADHD on mortality in women with borderline personality disorder

Background Many similarities exist between borderline personality disorder (BPD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), more so in women than in men. People with comorbid ADHD and BPD represent a subgroup of BPD patients with distinct symptom expression and, consequently, a different prognosis. We used Swedish national high quality registers to assess whether such comorbidity is related […]

Investigating the association between income inequality in youth and deaths of despair in Canada: A population-based cohort study from 2006 to 2019

Background: Deaths due to suicide, drug overdose and alcohol-related liver disease, collectively known as ‘deaths of despair’, have been markedly increasing since the early 2000s and are especially prominent in young Canadians. Income inequality has been linked to this rise in deaths of despair; however, this association has not yet been examined in a Canadian context, […]

Suicide mortality and related behavior following calls to the Veterans Crisis Line by Veterans Health Administration patients

Objectives To assess outcomes for Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patients following calls to the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL). Methods 158,927 VHA patients had an initial VCL call in 2010–2015 with documented identifiers. Multivariable proportional hazards regressions assessed risks of suicide and suicide-related behavior through 12 months. Covariates included age, sex, region, mental health encounters in the […]

Mortality following non-fatal suicide attempts by Veterans in Veterans Health Administration care

Introduction Little is known regarding long-term mortality outcomes after non-fatal suicide attempts among Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patients, which may inform services delivery and program evaluation. Methods For 4,601,081 Veterans with 2005 VHA encounters, we assessed unadjusted and age-adjusted all-cause and cause-specific mortality through 2017, overall and for Veterans with (N = 8243) versus without (N = 4,592,838) 2005 […]

Mortality among psychiatric inpatients in China: A national survey

Background: Patients with mental disorders are at increased risk of premature mortality. Psychiatric inpatients are a particularly vulnerable population, yet data on the mortality rate and causes of death among psychiatric inpatients in a national sample are scarce. Methods: We analyzed data collected from patients who died during psychiatric hospitalization in 2019 and 2020 from 41 psychiatric […]

The impact of the SARS‑CoV‑2 pandemic on cause‑specific mortality patterns: A systematic literature review

Background: Understanding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on cause-specific mortality should be a priority, as this metric allows for a detailed analysis of the true burden of the pandemic. The aim of this systematic literature review is to estimate the impact of the pandemic on different causes of death, providing a quantitative and qualitative analysis […]

Five-year mortality after hospitalisation for suicide attempt with a violent method

Objective This study aimed to estimate the 5-year mortality among people admitted into a transdisciplinary unit providing combined psychiatric and somatic rehabilitation treatment. Methods In this retrospective study, we analyzed the clinical records of all individuals admitted into the transdisciplinary unit from 01/01/2011 to 12/31/2017 after a suicide attempt using violent means. Vital status was […]

Five-year mortality after hospitalisation for suicide attempt with a violent method

Objective This study aimed to estimate the 5-year mortality among people admitted into a transdisciplinary unit providing combined psychiatric and somatic rehabilitation treatment. Methods In this retrospective study, we analyzed the clinical records of all individuals admitted into the transdisciplinary unit from 01/01/2011 to 12/31/2017 after a suicide attempt using violent means. Vital status was […]

Investigating the relationship between euthanasia and/or assisted suicide and rates of non-assisted suicide: Systematic review

Background: Euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) are practices that aim to alleviate the suffering of people with life-limiting illnesses, but are controversial. One area of debate is the relationship between EAS and suicide rates in the population, where there have been claims that availability of EAS will reduce the number of self-initiated deaths (EAS and […]

An ecological study of temporal trends in ‘deaths of despair’ in England and Wales

Purpose There is growing interest in the concept of ‘deaths of despair’ (DoD)—defined as deaths from three causes: suicide, drug poisoning, and alcohol-related conditions—as a more comprehensive indicator of the impact of psychological distress on mortality. The purpose of this study is to investigate the degree of commonality in trends and geographic patterning of deaths […]