Demographical characteristics of patients attempting suicide and factors having impact on recurrent suicide attempts

Abstract Purpose Determine the differences between those attempting the suicide for the first time and those having the recurrent suicide attempts. Material & method The consecutive 144 patients applied to the emergency department with the suicide attempt reason were prospectively evaluated. The patients attempting the suicide in previous years were grouped as the Recurrent Suicide Attempt (RSA) and patients attempting the suicide for the first time were grouped as the First Suicide Attempt (FSA), and their results were analyzed. Results 144 patients, whose ages were between 18 and 74 years old and age averages were 28.03 ± 9.9/years, were included in our study. 67% (n = 97) of the patients was female and 32.6% (n = 47) of them was male, and the female/male rate was 2.06. It was determined that the recurrent suicide attempts were more risky as 8.45 fold (p = 0.001, S.E = 0.650, HR: 8.45 (1.361–30.219.9)) in the smokers and 2.66 fold (S.E. = 0.476, p = 0.04, HR = 2.66 (1.047–6.765)) in the alcohol abusers with reference to the logistic regression analysis. Conclusion There are many risk factors depending on the individual and social environment in the RSA attempts. It was determined in our study that just the smoking and drinking alcohol increased the recurrent suicide attempt risk.