The importance of the frequency of suicide attempts as a risk factor of suicide

Inoue, Ken; Tanii, Hisashi; Fukunaga, Tatsushige; Abe, Shuntaro; Nishimura, Fusae; Kimura, Yukiko; Nishimura, Yukika; Nishida, Atsushi; Kajiki, Naomi; Tawara, Junsuke; Ikemura, Hiroyuki; Hanagama, Masakazu; Shinone, Koutaro; Yokoyama, Chika; Kaiya, Hisanobu; Nata, Masayuki; Okazaki, Yuji

doi:10.1016/j.jcfm.2006.10.003

« Previous Next »Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine
Volume 15, Issue 1 , Pages 24-26, January 2008

The importance of the frequency of suicide attempts as a risk factor of suicide

Ken Inoue, MD
- Department of Psychiatry, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
- Warakukai Incorporated Medical Institution, Nagoya 453-0015, Japan
- Corresponding author. Address: Department of Psychiatry, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu 514-8507, Japan. Tel.: +81 59 231 5018; fax: +81 59 231 5208.
Hisashi Tanii, PhD, MD
- Department of Psychiatry, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
Tatsushige Fukunaga, PhD, MD
- Tokyo Medical Examiner’s Office, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo 112-0012, Japan
Shuntaro Abe, MD
- Department of Forensic Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan
Fusae Nishimura, PhD
- Department of Hygiene, Kanazawa University School of Medicine and Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan
Yukiko Kimura, MS
- Department of Hygiene, Kanazawa University School of Medicine and Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan
Yukika Nishimura, MS
- Department of Psychiatry, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
Atsushi Nishida, MS
- Department of Psychiatry, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
Naomi Kajiki, MS
- Department of Psychiatry, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
Junsuke Tawara, MS
- Department of Psychiatry, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
Hiroyuki Ikemura, MS
- Department of Psychiatry, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
Masakazu Hanagama, MD
- Department of Forensic Medicine and Sciences, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
Koutaro Shinone, MS
- Department of Forensic Medicine and Sciences, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
Chika Yokoyama, MA
- Warakukai Incorporated Medical Institution, Nagoya 453-0015, Japan
Hisanobu Kaiya, PhD, MD
- Warakukai Incorporated Medical Institution, Nagoya 453-0015, Japan
Masayuki Nata, PhD, MD
- Department of Forensic Medicine and Sciences, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
Yuji Okazaki, MD
- Department of Psychiatry, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
- Tokyo Metropolitan Matsuzawa Hospital, Tokyo 156-0057, Japan

Received 24 January 2006; received in revised form 3 October 2006; accepted 24 October 2006.

Abstract

The number of suicides in Japan has increased from approximately 22,000 per year in 1988–1997 to over 30,000 per year since then. The number has also increased in Mie Prefecture during this period. According to many reports, suicide attempts are one of the risk factors of suicide. In the present study, we investigated the incidences and circumstances of all suicide cases between 1996 and 2002, focusing in detail on the frequency of suicide attempts and general differences in the frequency of all suicide cases.

During the 7 years, 1979 male and 969 female suicides were reported to Mie Prefectural Police Headquarters. During the test period, there were suicide attempts in 13.4% of all suicidal cases, 10.7% for men and 18.9% for women. The average age was 48.98 years (SD 17.68), 47.07 years (SD 16.32) for men, and 51.19 years (SD 18.89) for women. Among men, we discovered the risk factors of suicide attempts in completed suicides, which were “single time” of suicide attempts, “living with family” for the family constitution, and “visiting treatment” of the admission statuses. Among women, the risk factors were “living with family” and “visiting treatment”. We must pay attention to those risk factors.

Keywords: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Risk factor, Japan, Mie Prefecture