Hospital-treated suicide attempts among Finnish fire setters: a follow-up study.
BACKGROUND
High rates of attempted and completed suicide have been reported among offenders, but there has been little attention in this respect to fire setters specifically. Aim Our aim was to investigate hospital-treated suicide attempts among male fire setters.


METHODS
For each of a consecutive series of 441 pre-trial fire setters, four controls matched for age, gender and place of birth were randomly selected from the Central Population Register. Data on hospitalisation and causes of death over a 39-year period were obtained from the Finnish national registers.


RESULTS
The prevalence of suicide attempts was significantly higher among fire setters than among controls. Approximately every fifth fire setter had made at least one suicide attempt which had required hospital treatment. The most common method chosen was intentional self-poisoning or exposure to noxious substances. More than 1 in 10 fire setters with at least one hospitalisation for suicide-related behaviour eventually completed suicide.


CONCLUSIONS
More attention should be paid to detecting and managing suicidal behaviours among fire setters as they are a high-risk group and accurate identification of their needs in this respect may not only be life-saving but also reduce recidivism. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Kellokoski Hospital, Finland.
Annika
A
Thomson
Niuvanniemi Hospital, Finland.|Department of Psychiatry, University of Eastern Finland, Finland.|Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
Jari
J
Tiihonen
Center for Clinical Neurosciences, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, Finland.|Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Finland.|Center for Life-Course and Systems Epidemiology, University of Oulu, Finland.
Jouko
J
Miettunen
Forensic Psychiatry, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Finland.
Matti
M
Virkkunen
Forensic Psychiatry, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Finland.
Nina
N
Lindberg
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005391:Firesetting Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult