psychological risk factors of suicide attempts in patients admitted to emergency departments

Background: suicide, as a leading cause of death, needs more attention to discover different aspects of its occurrence and to implement proper programs for prevention and control. objectives: this study aimed to assess psychological risk factors of suicidal attempts in patients referred to the hospitals. methods: in this cross-sectional study, demographic characteristics, environmental stressors and three questionnaires [beck scale of suicide ideation (bssi), quality of life (sf-12), and symptom checklist 90-r (scl-90-r)], have been collected in all of the patients who were referred to emergency departments affiliated to babol university of medical sciences, during 6 months. results: one hundred and forty one patients had been included. mean age of the patients was 26.7 ± 11.2 (range 11 - 75) years; 54.6% of the patients were in the age-group of 21 - 40 years; females had more suicide attempts and 58.1% of the patients had low education level. the most common method for suicide was drug ingestion (92.9% of the patients). a significant correlation had been observed between quality of life and suicidal ideation (r = - 0.48; p < 0.0001). depression and hostility had the highest mean score among scl-90-r subscales. conclusions: more frequent suicides in the second to fourth decades of life, especially in women and the persons who had lower quality of life suggests a need for proper social supports and psychiatric interventions for early detection of suicidal thoughts and necessary treatments for prevention of complete suicide.