Prevalence of suicidal ideation and associated risk factors in the general population.
OBJECTIVE
Suicide is an important public health problem and one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The present study investigated the prevalence of suicidal ideation (SI) and its associated risk factors in the general population.


METHODS
A nationwide community survey was conducted using a computer-aided telephone interview system with residents aged >or= 15 years, who were selected by a stratified, proportional randomization method. The questionnaire comprised demographic variables, five items of psychopathology selected from the Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS-5) and questions about personal experience with suicide. In total, 2054 respondents, 1002 male (48.8%), and 1052 female (51.2%), completed the survey.


RESULTS
The weighted prevalence of SI was 2.84% in the past week, 5.50% in the past year, and 18.49% during a lifetime. Significant risk factors for SI in the last week included presence of SI over the past year [odds ratio (OR) =1763.6], SI during the lifetime (OR =267.6), psychiatric morbidity (OR = 30.3), depression (OR =26.1), inferiority (OR =11.2), hostility (OR = 10.9), anxiety (OR = 10.5), insomnia (OR =6.7), history of seeking help for psychological distress (OR = 7.9), divorce (OR =6.4), unemployment (OR = 5.0) and having suicidal behavior in relatives or friends (OR =3.8). Stepwise multiple regression analysis demonstrated that the five symptom items of BSRS-5 and unemployment significantly predicted 25.3% of the variance of SI. Using the BSRS-5 score 3 or 4 as a cut-off to predict SI, the rate of accurate classification was 85.88%, with sensitivity of 0.83 and specificity of 0.86.


CONCLUSIONS
A telephone interview survey containing the BSRS-5 items is an efficient way to identify determinants of SI in the general population.
Lee
Jia-In
JI
School of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Lee
Ming-Been
MB
Liao
Shih-Cheng
SC
Chang
Chia-Ming
CM
Sung
Suz-Chieh
SC
Chiang
Hung-Chi
HC
Tai
Chuan-Wan
CW
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult