Psychiatric assessment of suicide attempters in Japan: a pilot study at a critical emergency unit in an urban area

Table 3 Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of cases of suicide attempters in the high and low lethality group

		High lethality group (N = 225)	Low lethality group (N = 95)	Analysis
		N (%)	N (%)	χ²	df	P
Gender						n.s.
	Male	96 (43)	30 (32)
	Female	129 (57)	65 (68)
	Male middle age	34 (15)	9 (9)	5.9	1	< 0.05
Age
	Mean^§	39.8 ± 15.7	34.8 ± 15.9	z = -3.1		< 0.01
Stay in hospital (days)
	Mean^§	23.0 ± 41.3	5.0 ± 4.1	z = -8.7		< 0.001
Marital status						n.s.
	Single	87 (39)	44 (46)
	Married	81 (36)	27 (28)
	Divorced	31 (14)	7 (7)
	Widowed	2 (1)	1 (1)
	Common-law	14 (6)	7 (7)
Employed status						n.s.
	Employed	95 (42)	38 (40)
	Unemployed	126 (56)	52 (55)
Current psychiatric treatment						n.s.
	Outpatient	135 (60)	69 (73)
	Hospitalization	4 (2)	0 (0)
	No treatment	71 (32)	18 (19)
Living status				6.6	2	< 0.05
	Alone	51 (23)	17 (18)
	Together	172 (76)	73 (77)
Recent stressful life event						n.s.
	0	73 (32)	22 (23)
	1	80 (36)	42 (44)
	> 2	47 (21)	20 (21)
Education
	Compulsory education	53 (24)	25 (26)			n.s.
	High school education and over	150 (67)	57 (60)
Previous deliberate self harm						n.s.
	0	145 (64)	39 (41)
	1	18 (8)	7 (7)
	> 2	50 (22)	40 (42)
Previous suicide attempt						n.s.
	0	121 (54)	47 (49)
	1	51 (23)	16 (17)
	> 2	38 (17)	25 (26)
Family history of suicide/attempt		34 (15)	10 (11)			n.s.
Axis I						n.s.
Mood disorders		58 (26)	20 (21)
Adjustment disorders		33 (15)	24 (25)
Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders		43 (19)	11 (12)
Substance-related disorders		29 (13)	7 (7)
Axis II						n.s.
Personality disorders		71 (32)	39 (41)

ISSN: 1471-244X