Factors associated with psychiatric ward admission in the emergency department after a suicide attempt: The risk-rescue rating scale (RRRS) and biochemical markers

Objective: This study was conducted to understand factors associated with psychiatric ward admission for patients referred to the emergency department after a suicide attempt.

Methods: Medical records of patients referred to the emergency department (ED) after attempting suicide were retrospectively reviewed. Two groups were formed: the discharged (DC) group and the psychiatric ward (PW) admission group. All statistical analyses, including univariate and logistic regression analyses, were performed using SPSS 18.0 software, with p < 0.05 considered as statistically significant.

Results: This study included 486 patients, 92.0% (n=447) in the DC group and 8.0% (n=39) in the PW admission group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that predictors of PW admission included in referral during the daytime (OR = 3.39, p < 0.01), history of depression (OR = 3.13, p = 0.01), the Risk-Rescue Rating Scale (RRRS) (OR = 1.14, p < 0.01), drinking status (OR = 0.22, p < 0.01).

Conclusions: We demonstrated that RRRS could be used to determine PW admission for patients referred to ED after suicide attempts. Furthermore, history of daytime visiting, non-drinking status, and history of depression were identified as factors relating to PW admission. Active and careful attention is recommended for patients with factors relating to PW admission among those who were voluntarily discharged.