Depressed patients who suicide at their first attempt have had few admissions.

A prior suicide attempt is generally considered to be an indicator of increased future suicide risk. However, approximately 50% of psychiatric patients who commit suicide have made no previous suicide attempt. Thus, an effort was made to detect other predictors of future suicide risk in this group. The records of 100 psychiatric patient suicides were examined. Patients who completed suicide at their first attempt (n = 57) were compared with patients who suicided after a previous attempt (n = 43). There were no significant differences between the two groups on any of the sociodemographic or clinical variables examined. However, patients with a primary psychiatric diagnosis of an effective disorder who committed suicide at their first attempt had had significantly less admissions than depressed patients who committed suicide after a previous attempt. The clinical implication is that the absence of many prior admissions in a depressed patient is not an indicator of low suicide risk.