Prevalence of Suicidal Ideation and Associated Risk Factors in the General Population

Lee, Jia-In; Lee, Ming-Been; Liao, Shih-Cheng; Chang, Chia-Ming; Sung, Suz-Chieh; Chiang, Hung-Chi; Tai, Chuan-Wan

doi:10.1016/S0929-6646(10)60034-4

« Previous Next »Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 109, Issue 2 , Pages 138-147, February 2010

Prevalence of Suicidal Ideation and Associated Risk Factors in the General Population

Jia-In Lee
- School of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Ming-Been Lee
- Departments of Psychiatry and Social Medicine, National Taiwan University and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- Correspondence to: Dr Ming-Been Lee, Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, 7 Chung Shan South Road, Taipei, Taiwan
Shih-Cheng Liao
- Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center, Department of Health, Chang-Gun Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Chia-Ming Chang
- Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center, Department of Health, Chang-Gun Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Psychiatry, Chang-Gun Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Suz-Chieh Sung
- Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center, Department of Health, Chang-Gun Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Hung-Chi Chiang
- Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center, Department of Health, Chang-Gun Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Chuan-Wan Tai
- Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center, Department of Health, Chang-Gun Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

Received 20 August 2009; received in revised form 6 October 2009; accepted 25 October 2009.

Background/Purpose

Suicide is an important public health problem and one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The present study investigated the prevalence of suicidal ideation (SI) and its associated risk factors in the general population.

Methods

A nationwide community survey was conducted using a computer-aided telephone interview system with residents aged ≥ 15 years, who were selected by a stratified, proportional randomization method. The questionnaire comprised demographic variables, five items of psychopathology selected from the Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS-5) and questions about personal experience with suicide. In total, 2054 respondents, 1002 male (48.8%), and 1052 female (51.2%), completed the survey.

Results

The weighted prevalence of SI was 2.84% in the past week, 5.50% in the past year, and 18.49% during a lifetime. Significant risk factors for SI in the last week included presence of SI over the past year [odds ratio (OR) =1763.6], SI during the lifetime (OR =267.6), psychiatric morbidity (OR = 30.3), depression (OR =26.1), inferiority (OR =11.2), hostility (OR = 10.9), anxiety (OR = 10.5), insomnia (OR =6.7), history of seeking help for psychological distress (OR = 7.9), divorce (OR =6.4), unemployment (OR = 5.0) and having suicidal behavior in relatives or friends (OR =3.8). Stepwise multiple regression analysis demonstrated that the five symptom items of BSRS-5 and unemployment significantly predicted 25.3% of the variance of SI. Using the BSRS-5 score 3 or 4 as a cut-off to predict SI, the rate of accurate classification was 85.88%, with sensitivity of 0.83 and specificity of 0.86.