Introduction: Suicide behavior is a major public health concern, and several studies have investigated the utilization of health care before occurrence of suicides in order to prevent such events. However, no studies have invested patterns or background of health care contacts in temporal relation to suicide attempts over time. This study aims to investigate the utilization of health care before and after first suicide attempt.
Method: This is a descriptive study with use of nationwide registries in Denmark. The population included 323,829 individuals above 10 years old (29,439 cases and 294,390 controls). Cases were identified when having their first suicide attempt between 2010-2021. Controls were matched on sex, birthyear and calendar year of diagnosis. The included factors were any contact to psychiatry, public hospital or health insurance services such as general practice, two years before and after index event. Incidence rates (IR) were calculated as quarters of a year, resulting in 16 time units. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) were also calculated for the two groups and fixed-effects linear analyses were lastly added.
Results: The IR for contact to psychiatry ward increased steeply [x time] before the index event and fell again [x time] after. Nearly the same pattern was seen in the contact to hospital and general practice. Contacts related to hospitals often included diagnoses such as [x,y,z] where the IRR was [x] in the quarters prior to suicide attempt and [y] in the quarters after the event. [Other analyses yet to come with sex and age group differences].
Conclusion: With identification of specific utilization patterns in different areas of the health care sector, this study can help in clinical practice. The results can highlight when and how much the pattern is averagely changing for individuals before and after their first suicide attempt, which can help identify missed opportunities for suicide prevention.