Is Lethality Different between Males and Females? Clinical and Gender Differences in Inpatient Suicide Attempters

Isabella Berardelli (), Elena Rogante, Salvatore Sarubbi, Denise Erbuto, Mariarosaria Cifrodelli, Cristina Concolato, Massimo Pasquini, David Lester, Marco Innamorati and Maurizio Pompili
Additional contact information
Isabella Berardelli: Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Organs, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Suicide Prevention Centre, Sant’Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy
Elena Rogante: Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale dell’Università 30, 00185 Rome, Italy
Salvatore Sarubbi: Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale dell’Università 30, 00185 Rome, Italy
Denise Erbuto: Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Organs, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Suicide Prevention Centre, Sant’Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy
Mariarosaria Cifrodelli: Psychiatry Residency Training Program, Psychiatry Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sant’Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy
Cristina Concolato: Psychiatry Residency Training Program, Psychiatry Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sant’Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy
Massimo Pasquini: Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale dell’Università 30, 00185 Rome, Italy
David Lester: Psychology Program, Stockton University, Galloway, NJ 08205, USA
Marco Innamorati: Department of Human Sciences, European University of Rome, Via degli Aldobrandeschi 190, 00163 Rome, Italy
Maurizio Pompili: Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Organs, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Suicide Prevention Centre, Sant’Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 20, 1-8

Abstract: According to the gender paradox in suicidology, an important sex difference has been reported with a preponderance of females in nonfatal suicidal behavior and a preponderance of males in completed suicide. Furthermore, females and males present different risk factors for suicide. The present study explored possible clinical differences between male and female psychiatric inpatients who had recently attempted suicide. The study included 177 adult inpatients hospitalized following a suicide attempt at the University Psychiatric Clinic, Sant’Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome. Clinical features assessed included psychiatric diagnosis, method and lethality of suicide attempts using the Risk/Rescue Rating Scale, the history of suicide attempts, age at onset of psychiatric illness, the presence of substance or alcohol use, and the length of stay. The results found that males and females differed in the method used for the suicide attempt, the scores for risk and rescue, and the length of hospitalization post-suicide attempt. In conclusion, identifying gender characteristics of patients at higher risk of suicide is important for implementing specific suicide prevention strategies and reducing the risk of future suicidal behavior in psychiatric inpatients.

Keywords: suicide; gender; prevention; males; females (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13309/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13309/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:20:p:13309-:d:943305

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().