Psychiatric hospitalizations during the last 12 months before suicide.
OBJECTIVE
Suicide victims frequently have had contact with the mental health care system before they died. In this study, the rates, numbers and lengths of psychiatric hospitalizations of suicide victims during the last year before their suicide commission were assessed.


METHODS
The quarterly and monthly hospitalization rates during the last 12 months of 665 individuals who committed suicide were compared.


RESULTS
Of the suicide victims, 16.4% had been hospitalized at least once. The period after a recent discharge bore the highest risk for suicide commission, with 4.7% (28.4% of those hospitalized) committing suicide within 1 week after their discharge and 7.8% (47.7%) committing suicide within 1 month. Hospitalization rates were significantly higher in the last 3 months as compared with the preceding quarters.


CONCLUSIONS
Increasing utilization of inpatient treatment facilities should prompt a particularly profound suicide risk assessment and postdischarge treatment planning.
Deisenhammer
Eberhard A
EA
Department of General Psychiatry, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria. eberhard.deisenhammer@uibk.ac.at
Huber
Michael
M
Kemmler
Georg
G
Weiss
Elisabeth M
EM
Hinterhuber
Hartmann
H
D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*