A 26-year retrospective survey on suicide cases of students at Yamaguchi University (1992-2017): Risk factors and the role of the health administration center.

Abstract To clarify the risk factors for suicide among university students, we collected the data of students who died of any cause from 1992 to 2017 from the accident records of the Yamaguchi University. Sociodemographic and clinical data from the health examination and medical records of the university were examined. Chi-squared analysis was used. Of the 93 students who died, 48 were suicide cases over 26 years. Overall suicide rate was 17.4/100,000 persons. No longitudinally significant difference in suicide rate was seen between the same-age population (1998–2017; 20.0) and the university students. Higher risk of suicide in students was seen among males (odds ratio [OR] =3.5, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.49-8.22; 1992–2017), those who did not undertake a health examination in the year when they died by suicide (OR =5.82, 95% CI =2.41-14.04), and those who had usage history in the center for mental health consultations (OR =23.29, 95% CI =9.03-60.07) from 2006 to 2017. Characteristic risk factor was that they had undergone no health examination, representing unfavorable attitudes towards seeking help. We propose that the annual health examination should be used as a place for creating awareness for mental health problems.