General Medical, Mental Health, and Demographic Risk Factors Associated With Suicide by Firearm Compared With Other Means

What is it about?

Lethal means restriction is an important prevention practice in persons at risk for suicide, however little is known about what predicts the types of means used by specific patient populations. In a large sample, we found that persons who died by suicide with diagnosed mental health and substance use disorders were more likely to use non-firearm lethal means, such as medication overdose or hanging. We also examined general medical disorder predictors and found that traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, migraine, psychogenic pain and stroke substantially increased risk for suicide compared to controls.

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