The Role of Primary Care in the Prevention of Suicide and Accidental Deaths Among Young men: an Epidemiological Study

The authors compared health service contacts prior to suicidal & accidental deaths among young men aged 15 to 39 years. They found that although there was a significant difference between the proportion of suicide cases (56%) & of cases of accidental death (41%) who had seen their general practitioner during the 3 months before death, this was not significant at 1 month (38% versus 30%, respectively). Suicide cases were also more likely to have seen a mental health professional at some time. (42 refs)