Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/18504
Appears in Collections:Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Deaths by suicide and their relationship with general and psychiatric hospital discharge: 30-year record linkage study
Author(s): Dougall, Nadine
Lambert, Paul
Maxwell, Margaret
Dawson, Alison
Sinnott, Richard
McCafferty, Susan
Morris, Carole
Clark, David
Springbett, Anthea
Contact Email: nadine.dougall@stir.ac.uk
Issue Date: Apr-2014
Date Deposited: 31-Jan-2014
Citation: Dougall N, Lambert P, Maxwell M, Dawson A, Sinnott R, McCafferty S, Morris C, Clark D & Springbett A (2014) Deaths by suicide and their relationship with general and psychiatric hospital discharge: 30-year record linkage study. <i>British Journal of Psychiatry</i>, 204 (4), pp. 267-273. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.112.122374
Abstract: Background: Studies have rarely explored suicides completed following discharge from both general and psychiatric hospital settings. Such research might identify additional opportunities for intervention. Aims: To identify and summarise Scottish psychiatric and general hospital records for individuals who have died by suicide. Method A linked data study of deaths by suicide, aged ⩾15 years from 1981 to 2010. Results: This study reports on a UK data-set of individuals who died by suicide (n = 16 411), of whom 66% (n = 10 907) had linkable previous hospital records. Those who died by suicide were 3.1 times more frequently last discharged from general than from psychiatric hospitals; 24% of deaths occurred within 3 months of hospital discharge (58% of these from a general hospital). Only 14% of those discharged from a general hospital had a recorded psychiatric diagnosis at last visit; an additional 19% were found to have a previous lifetime psychiatric diagnosis. Median time between last discharge and death was fourfold greater in those without a psychiatric history. Diagnoses also revealed that less than half of those last discharged from general hospital had had a main diagnosis of &lsquo;injury or poisoning'. Conclusions: Suicide prevention activity, including a better psychiatric evaluation of patients within general hospital settings deserves more attention. Improved information flow between secondary and primary care could be facilitated by exploiting electronic records of previous psychiatric diagnoses.
DOI Link: 10.1192/bjp.bp.112.122374
Rights: The publisher does not allow this work to be made publicly available in this Repository. Please use the Request a Copy feature at the foot of the Repository record to request a copy directly from the author. You can only request a copy if you wish to use this work for your own research or private study.
Licence URL(s): http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/under-embargo-all-rights-reserved

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
BJPsych 2014.pdfFulltext - Published Version327.16 kBAdobe PDFUnder Embargo until 2999-12-02    Request a copy

Note: If any of the files in this item are currently embargoed, you can request a copy directly from the author by clicking the padlock icon above. However, this facility is dependent on the depositor still being contactable at their original email address.



This item is protected by original copyright



Items in the Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

The metadata of the records in the Repository are available under the CC0 public domain dedication: No Rights Reserved https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

If you believe that any material held in STORRE infringes copyright, please contact library@stir.ac.uk providing details and we will remove the Work from public display in STORRE and investigate your claim.