Suicidality, mode of suicide attempt and psychiatric co-morbidity among suicide attempters in a tertiary hospital of North-East India: An observational study

Introduction: Suicide is considered as a fatal act of self injury (self harm) undertaken with more or less conscious self destructive intent to end his/her life, however vague and ambitious. Psychiatric illnesses are often identified as risk factors for suicide attempt. The present study was conducted with the objective of assessing the suicidality, mode of suicide attempt and psychiatric co-morbidity among suicide attempters in a tertiary hospital of North-East India. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital based observational study carried out in a tertiary hospital located in the upper part of Assam, India. The study duration was of six months. The study received approval from the institutional ethical committee. Every consecutive patient admitted in the hospital during this period was included in the study sample and analysis of the observed data was done using tests like frequency distribution, multinomial logistic regression, fisher’s test and chi square test in SPSS windows version 16.0. Results: Poisoning was the most common mode of suicide attempt among both males and females. No significant association was found between suicidal risk and mode of suicide attempt. Suicidal Risk was also higher in those who had a psychiatric diagnosis than those with no psychiatric co-morbidity. How ever no significant association was found between suicidal risk and any of the individual psychiatric co-morbidities Conclusion: Severity of suicidal risk cannot determine the mode of suicide attempt. Mental illness, although it is associated with suicidal risk, cannot predict the severity of suicidal ideation.