Eventual suicide in interrupted and uninterrupted attempters: a challenge to the cry-for-help hypothesis.

A total of 499 patients hospitalized for suicide attempts (attempters) between 1970 and 1975 were followed until 1982; of this group, 28 (5.6%) eventually committed suicide. Six (14.6%) of the 41 patients who had been interrupted during their initial attempts eventually committed suicide, whereas only 22 (4.8%) of the 458 patients who had not been interrupted eventually committed suicide. The interrupted attempters were approximately three times more likely to commit suicide than the uninterrupted attempters.