Suicide Among Psychiatric In-Patients in the Wellington Region

To identify risk factors for in-patient suicide, a case-control study was conducted in the Wellington Area Health Board region between 1984-1989 on 27 cases & 86 controls. The risk of in-patient suicide was increased among individuals who had been compulsorily admitted, suffered from schizophrenia, had a past history of deliberate self-harm, had been in hospital for more than a month, or were unmarried. Further evaluation of the relation of compulsory admission to suicide is required. (40 refs.)