Key Takeaways

From the Authors As published in the article
  1. Suicide and self-inflicted poisoning/injury by cutting and piercing instruments was common in both patient groups, with bipolar patients having a higher frequency than those with major depressive disorder.
  2. It is important to investigate and understand the methods used to commit suicide because restricting access to these most prevalent forms of self-injury could be a practical approach to suicide prevention.
Extended Takeaways
  1. Among hospitalized adults with mood disorders, self-poisoning patterns differed by diagnosis: analgesics were more common in MDD than BD (16.7% vs 11%, P = .000), which may help guide means-safety counseling and medication access review.
  2. MDD admissions also showed higher use of other sedatives and hypnotics (4.9% vs 3.7%, P < .001), other and unspecified solid and liquid substances (3.9% vs 3.3%, P = .037), and hanging by strangulation and suffocation (3.7% vs 2.5%, P < .001), suggesting clinicians should ask specifically about both medication stockpiles and nonpharmacologic lethal means.
  3. Not all overdose categories distinguished the groups: tranquilizers/other psychotropic agents were common and nearly identical in MDD and BD (29.2% vs 29.4%, P = .72), as were other specified drugs and medicinal substances (14.3% vs 14.0%, P = .546).
  4. Comorbidity profiles differed in ways that may sharpen inpatient risk assessment: anxiety disorders (41.7% vs 39.7%, odds ratio [OR] = 0.920, CI, 0.864–0.981, P = .011) and adjustment disorders (2.3% vs 1.2%, OR = 0.498, CI, 0.386–0.644, P < .001) were more prevalent in MDD than BD.
  5. BD admissions had greater psychiatric complexity from psychosis-spectrum and personality pathology, with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders at 6.1% vs 2.6% (OR = 2.486, CI, 2.125–2.909, P = .000) and personality disorders at 27.5% vs 18.5% (OR = 1.670, CI, 1.548–1.802, P = .000).
  6. The inpatient populations were socioeconomically concentrated in lower-income areas, with the highest admission proportions in the 0 to 25th percentile median household income category for both MDD and BD (27.6% vs 31.2%, P < .001), which may be relevant when planning discharge supports and follow-up access.
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Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc. (PPP) makes no warranties about the accuracy or completeness of any information published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry or other PPP materials, and disclaims liability for any use or non-use of that information. Clinicians should not rely solely on these materials and should exercise their own professional judgment when making patient care decisions on an individualized basis.

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