# Prevalence of suicide risk among a national sample of individuals referred from a primary care subpopulation, 2017–2020

## TL;DR

This study found that nearly 10% of primary care patients referred to behavioral health services had suicide risk, with bipolar disorder linked to significantly higher risk.

## Contribution

The study provides new empirical data on suicide risk prevalence in primary care populations and identifies bipolar disorder as a significant risk factor.

## Key findings

- Approximately 9.96% of the sample screened positive for suicide risk.
- Bipolar disorder was associated with 8.21 times higher odds of suicide risk compared to generalized anxiety disorder.

## Abstract

Over the past decade, the age-adjusted suicide rate has increased by 35.2% in the United States. In primary care, practitioners often interact with patients at risk of dying by suicide, yet little is known about the prevalence of suicide risk in primary care populations. Patient data from 2017–2020, consisting of a national sample of patients referred from primary care and enrolled in collaborative care behavioral health services (n = 37 666), were analyzed. Controlling for demographic characteristics, logistic models were used to compare suicide risk prevalence by behavioral health diagnosis. An estimated 9.96% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.65–10.27)—or approximately 3751 individuals—of the total sample screened positively for suicide risk. Compared with individuals diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder had 8.21 times the odds (95% CI: 6.66–10.10) of screening for suicide risk. Practitioners and health care systems may benefit from adding suicide risk screeners as a standard practice for referred patients, which may lead to further development of clinical pathways and provider training. The high rate of suicide risk across the sample suggests that more research is needed to understand suicide risk prevalence across primary care and collaborative care populations.