Characteristics of Single vs. Multiple Suicide Attempters Among Adult Population: A Systematic Review and Meta‑Analysis

TL;DR

This study compares people who attempt suicide once with those who attempt multiple times, finding that multiple attempters have higher risks linked to mental health issues and trauma.

Contribution

The paper provides the first meta-analysis comparing single and multiple suicide attempters in adults, identifying key risk factors for multiple attempts.

Findings

Multiple suicide attempters are more likely to have mood, psychotic, or substance use disorders.

They also show higher suicide ideation, intent scores, and childhood trauma experiences.

Stressful life events and hopelessness are more common among multiple attempters.

Abstract

Suicide is one of the leading causes of unnatural death worldwide. There might be meaningful differences between those individuals that attempt suicide once in their lifespan and those who make multiple attempts in terms of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. There are no previous meta-analysis addressing this topic in the adult population.

We aimed to examine the factors that differentiate single and multiple suicide attempters in adult population.

We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to conduct this review and meta-analysis. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO. We carried out a systematic literature search in three databases to identify original studies that explored the differences between single and multiple suicide attempters among adult population. A total of 75 studies were included in the review and 69 were included in the meta-analysis.

Multiple attempters were more likely to present certain disorders such as mood and psychotic disorders, as well as personality or substance use disorders. Higher suicide ideation and suicide intent scores also characterized this group. Childhood trauma experiences, stressful life events, and higher rates of hopelessness were statistically significant in multiple attempters.

Identifying the factors predicting multiple suicide attempts helps to delineate a high-risk suicidal profile that should be taken into account in the clinical and suicide prevention scenario.

None Declared