Risk of Suicide in Emergency Department Patients with Self-Harm or Suicidal Ideation

Emergency departments (EDs) play a crucial role in the evaluation of patients who endorse self-harm or suicidal ideation, and as a portal of entry for mental health services. Although clinicians attempt to risk-stratify these patients, there are few data regarding risk of death after such ED visits.

Using linked databases of ED visits and state death records for patients over 10 years of age in California from 2009 to 2011, researchers compared 1-year mortality from suicide for patients presenting with deliberate self-harm, suicidal ideation, or neither. The study included 83,507 patients with self-harm, 67,379 with suicidal ideation, and a random sample of nearly 500,000 other patients (reference group). Poisoning (69%) was the most common …