When You Hit Rock-Bottom.

Suicide is the act of purposely causing death and a suicide attempt means a self-harm episode where a person tries to commit suicide but fails the attempt. The Republic of Korea has the highest suicide rate among Organisation for Econonomic Cooperation and Development nations [1]. Repeated suicide attempts have strong correlations with previous attempt, a victim of sexual abuse, poor global functioning, having a psychiatric disorder, being on psychiatric treatment, depressions, anxiety and alcohol abuse or dependence [2]. Previous attempt has the greatest impact on suicide [3]. It has been reported that 61% of those that attempt suicide have had emergency medical care, and between 37.9% and 98.8% have been hospitalized [4,5]. In most suicide attempts, the stay in the emergency room is relatively short because family wants to leave once their immediate clinical problems have been resolved, and in-depth consultations is not enough during this period. A consultation during hospitalization is more benefit for patients and families to receive continuous psychotherapy [6].

In the current issue of Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives, Kim and Lee aimed to analyze the characteristics and factors affecting the survival of inpatients admitted following a suicide attempt [7]. The authors grouped a total of 3,095 cases retrieved from the Korean National Hospital Discharge In-depth Injury Survey database (from 2011 to 2015) according to survival and death, and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and logistic regression analysis. The authors found that the following factors had statistically significant risks on reducing survival: female, the middle-aged (more than 40 years old), poisoning, hanging, jumping, conflicts with family, physical diseases, mental health problems, and financial problems.

The authors suggested that the survival group that had a history of attempted suicide (the high-risk suicide group) should be further characterized with identification of the suicide methods and influencing risk factors for suicide prevention management policies. The authors highlighted the necessity to continuously expand the management policy according to these characteristics.