Suicidal Children and Adolescents With First Emergency Room Presentations: Predictors of Six-month Outcome

The authors examined the risk of future documented suicide attempts & emergency room (ER) returns among children & adolescents with first suicidal ER presentations. At 6-month follow-up they found that 32.6% of the study population had returned to the ER, 24.1% had a documented suicide attempt, & 14.3% required psychiatric hospitalization. Predictors for repeat attempts included 15- to 19-year age range, past foster/group home placement, past mental health care, a suicide plan, reported mood symptoms, sobriety at ER visit, general substance use, child welfare guardianship, & abuse history. (57 refs)