title: Gender Differences in Youth Suicide and Healthcare Service Use.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Healthcare service use among suicide decedents must be well characterized and understood since a key strategy for preventing suicide is to improve healthcare providers' ability to effectively detect and treat those in need.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine gender differences in healthcare service use 12 months prior to suicide.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for 1,231 young Quebec residents (≤ 25 years) who died by suicide between 2000 and 2007 were collected from public health insurance agency databases and coroner registers. Healthcare visits were categorized according to the setting (emergency department [ED], outpatient, and hospital) and their nature (mental health vs. non-mental health).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Girls were more likely than boys (82.5% vs. 74.9%, p = .011) to have used healthcare services in the year prior to death. A higher proportion of girls had used outpatient services (79.0% vs. 69.5%, p = .003), had been hospitalized (25.7% vs. 15.6%, p < .001) and had received a mental health-related diagnosis (46.7% vs. 33.1%, p < .001). However, no gender differences were observed in ED visits (59.5% vs. 54.5%, p = .150).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is an important proportion of suicide decedents who did not receive a mental health diagnosis and healthcare services in the year prior to death. Future studies should focus on examining gender-specific individual and health system barriers among suicide decedents as well as the quality of care offered regarding detection and treatment.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Sherbrooke, Charles Le Moyne Hospital Research Center, Longueuil, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gontijo Guerra
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Sherbrooke, Charles Le Moyne Hospital Research Center, Longueuil, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Helen-Maria
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Vasiliadis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011792:Quebec / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: gender differences; mental health; service use; youth suicide