Completed suicide after a suicide attempt: a 37-year follow-up study.
OBJECTIVE
Attempted suicide is the strongest known predictor of completed suicide. However, suicide risk declines over time after an attempt, and it is unclear how long the risk persists. Risk estimates are almost exclusively based on studies of less than 10 years of follow-up.


METHODS
The authors followed a cohort of 100 consecutive self-poisoned patients in Helsinki in 1963, for whom forensically classified causes of death during the following 37 years were investigated.


RESULTS
They found that suicides continued to accumulate almost four decades after the index suicide attempt.


CONCLUSIONS
A history of a suicide attempt by self-poisoning indicates suicide risk over the entire adult lifetime.
Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland. kirsi.suominen@ktl.fi
Kirsi
K
Suominen
Erkki
E
Isometsä
Jaana
J
Suokas
Jari
J
Haukka
Kalle
K
Achte
Jouko
J
Lönnqvist
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011041:Poisoning / Q000401:mortality; D012008:Recurrence; D012306:Risk; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*