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Self-poisoning suicide attempts are more commonly followed by survival than are methods such as hanging and firearms and so provide opportunities for secondary prevention. As a basis for preventive strategies, knowledge of the longitudinal course after survival from a first attempt of self-poisoning has been needed. To accomplish this, investigators culled Canadian national registries to identify 20,471 first-episode self-poisoners aged 10 to 19 years (age ≤15, 18%; female, 74%). Attempters were each matched to 50 comparison subjects (n=1,023,487).
Median follow-up was 7.2 years. Overall, 248 self-poisoners (1%) died; 51% of these and 16% of deaths in comparison subjects were by suicide. During the first follow-up year, risk for suicide was …