The aim of the study was to assess risk factors associated with suicidal behaviour in adult patients suffering from major mood disorders (MD) and admitted to a hospital emergency department (ED).
Participants were 283 adult patients with MDs admitted to an ED between 2006-2007. Comparisons were 675 adult patients with other DSM-IV-TR Axis I disorders. Patients undertook a complete psychiatric assessment including DSM-IV-TR diagnostic interview.
MD patients were almost 2 times more likely to have been admitted for a suicide attempt (odds ratio [OR]=1,97 [95% confidence intervals [CI]: 1,29/3,03]; p< 0,01), to report suicidal ideation at the psychiatric interview (OR=1,75 [95%CI: 1,01/3,03]; p< 0,05), than their pairs without MDs. MD patients admitted for a suicide attempt were more than 3 times more likely to report suicidal ideation at the psychiatric interview (OR=3,26 [95%CI: 1,46/7,30]; p< 0,01), than nonattempter MD patients.
Suicide behavior is one of the major reasons of use of EDs in MDs, and suicide risk is still high in the next hours after suicide attempt and admission in the ED. Therefore ED's interventions for mood disorders and suicidality must be carefully planned.