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Table 7 Additional comparisons and expanded logistic regressions for lifetime suicidal ideation in ARMHS sample (n = 634)

From: Determinants of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts: parallel cross-sectional analyses examining geographical location

Characteristic (predictor or exposure variable) Statistic or category Profiles for discrete ARMHS sub-groups Prediction of lifetime suicidal ideation#
No lifetime suicidal ideation (n = 480) Lifetime suicidal ideation Overall univariate analysis p-value AOR (99% CI) p-value
Not recent (n = 116) Present during last 12-months (n = 38)
Demographics        
Age in years mean (SD, n) 57 (14, 480) 52 (13, 116) 48 (15, 38) <0.001 0.98 (0.96, 1.0) 0.001
Gender Female 283 (59%) 79 (68%) 22 (58%) 0.183 1.18 (0.68, 2.0) 0.445
Marital status Yes 330 (69%) 54 (47%) 17 (45%) <0.001 0.51 (0.30, 0.87) 0.001
Education University or higher degree 98 (20%) 24 (21%) 9 (24%) 0.892 0.90 (0.47, 1.7) 0.671
Current functioning        
Current psychological distress (K10) mean (SD, n) 18 (6.3, 480) 21 (6.4, 116) 27 (7.8, 38) <0.001 1.07 (1.03, 1.1) <0.001
Wellbeing index mean (SD, n) -.32 (0.82, 480) -.70 (0.93, 115) −1.3 (0.85, 38) <0.001 0.88 (0.54, 1.4) 0.485
Alcohol Use (AUDIT) mean (SD, n) 3.7 (3.9, 480) 3.8 (4.9, 116) 6.3 (6.9, 38) 0.004 1.0 (0.97, 1.1) 0.226
Adverse life events mean (SD, n) 1.7 (1.6, 480) 2.2 (1.9, 116) 3.1 (2.1, 38) <0.001 1.1 (0.94, 1.3) 0.138
Social support        
Community & personal support mean (SD, n) −0.2 (0.8, 467) −0.4 (0.8, 115) −1.0 (0.9, 37) <0.001 0.88 (0.60, 1.3) 0.355
Personality        
Optimism (HOPES-12) mean (SD, n) 2.8 (0.6, 121) 2.3 (0.8, 28) 2.1 (0.7, 10) <0.001 0.21 (0.06, 0.68) <0.001
Neuroticism mean (SD, n) 2.6 (2.0, 468) 3.3 (2.2, 115) 4.2 (2.3, 36) <0.001 1.0 (0.89, 1.2) 0.563
Socioeconomic factors        
SEIFA (IRSAD) mean (SD) 939.03 (38.70) 943.22 (39.81) 946.76 (36.21) 0.329 1.0 (1.00, 1.0) 0.168
Financial adversity Low 298 (75%) 52 (54%) 14 (45%) <0.001   
Moderate 76 (19%) 31 (32%) 11 (35%)   1.8 (0.91, 3.4) 0.028
High 26 (6.5%) 13 (14%) 6 (19%)   1.3 (0.50, 3.6) 0.432
Physical illness        
Smoker Yes 63 (16%) 24 (25%) 10 (30%) 0.021 1.1 (0.54, 2.2) 0.748
No. of chronic illnesses 0 254 (53%) 80 (69%) 23 (61%) 0.037   
1 169 (35%) 11 (29%) 28 (24%)   0.67 (0.36, 1.3) 0.105
2+ 57 (12%) 4 (11%) 8 (6.9%)   0.59 (0.22, 1.6) 0.176
Serious injury past 12 months Yes 61 (13%) 7 (18%) 25 (22%) 0.043 1.5 (0.74, 3.0) 0.148
Service need and utilization        
Perceived need for services mean (SD, n) 3.0 (3.0, 480) 4.9 (3.5, 116) 7.7 (3.2, 38) <0.001 1.14 (1.01, 1.3) 0.006
Service use for mental health problem Yes 93 (19%) 46 (40%) 21 (55%) <0.001 2.12 (1.21, 3.7) <0.001
Rural factors        
Live on farm Yes 116 (25%) 23 (20%) 8 (21%) 0.576 0.89 (0.47, 1.7) 0.639
Proportion of life in a rural area mean (SD, n) 0.70 (0.31, 475) 0.67 (0.30, 113) 0.73 (0.31, 38) 0.573 0.84 (0.36, 1.9) 0.601
Remoteness category Inner regional 185 (39%) 44 (38%) 22 (58%) 0.029 .  
Outer regional 175 (36%) 53 (46%) 10 (26%)   1.09 (0.61, 1.9) 0.698
Remote/ Very Remote 120 (25%) 19 (16%) 6 (16%)   0.63 (0.30, 1.3) 0.11
Infrastructure and services accessibility mean (SD, n) 4.00 (3.15, 480) 3.30 (2.55, 116) 3.03 (2.31, 38) 0.021 0.91 (0.82, 1.0) 0.007
Lifetime psychiatric morbidity        
Affective disorder Yes 65 (14%) 53 (46%) 30 (79%) <0.001 3.7 (2.0, 6.7) <0.001
Anxiety disorder Yes 166 (35%) 69 (59%) 30 (79%) <0.001 2.2 (1.3, 3.8) <0.001
Substance use disorder Yes 94 (20%) 44 (38%) 18 (47%) <0.001 2.3 (1.3, 4.1) <0.001
  1. ARMHS: Australian Rural Mental Health Study; SD: Standard deviation; K10: Kessler-10 measure of psychological distress; AUDIT: Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test; HOPES-12: Hunter Opinions and Personal Expectations Scale; SEIFA (IRSAD) Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage and Disadvantage; ASGC: Australian Standard Geographic Classification; AOR: Adjusted Odds Ratio.
  2. #See the right-hand columns of Table 5 for the percentages of each predictor variable sub-category reporting lifetime suicidal ideation; the predictors were included in separate logistic regressions, controlling for age, gender, K10 psychological distress score, marital status and professional mental health service use (as appropriate); bolded p-values are statistically significant (against Bonferroni-adjusted thresholds).
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BMC Psychiatry

ISSN: 1471-244X

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