Effect of Telephone Follow-up on Repeated Suicide Attempt in Patients

Attempted suicide is a major public health problem, and the efficacies of current postvention protocols vary. The investigators evaluated the effectiveness of telephone follow-up of patients referred to an emergency psychiatric unit for attempted suicide on any further attempt/s over the following year. In a single-center, controlled study with intent to treat, they evaluated the efficacy of a protocol of telephone follow-up of patients at 8, 30, and 60 days after they had been treated for attempted suicide. For comparison, they evaluated as controls patients with similar social and demographic characteristics referred to their emergency psychiatric unit in the year prior to the study who did not receive telephone follow-up after their initial hospitalization. Data were analyzed using logistic regression.