Excess Suicide Among Formerly Hospitalized Child Psychiatry Patients

1331 child psychiatry inpatients in Iowa were followed up 4 to 15 years later, & suicide completion rates were compared with those for the general population of Iowa. Rates were higher than average for both sexes, but significantly so only for males. No completions occurred earlier than age 17. The rate was elevated for schizophrenia, organic mental disorder, & more complex disturbances, but not for affective disorders, substance abuse, neurosis, or anorexia nervosa. (47 refs.) (RM)