• Amanda N Barczyk, Jason T Gillon, Karen Piper, Catherine L Crocker, LeeAnn M Christie, and Karla A Lawson.
• Dell Children's Trauma and Injury Research Center, Austin, Texas.
• J Emerg Med. 2020 Aug 1; 59 (2): 178-185.

BackgroundLimited research exists examining the predictors of suicide attempts by mechanism.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to examine predictors of traumatic suicide attempts in youth.MethodsData came from patients 5-18 years of age presenting because of a suicide attempt at 2 hospitals in Central Texas with level I trauma centers. Univariate logistic regression examined the association between traumatic suicide attempts and variables describing the patient's demographic, mental health, and social information. We used the Mann-Whitney U test to examine the association between traumatic suicide attempts and the continuous variable of age.ResultsOf 231 patients included in this study, most were female (75.8%), non-Hispanic white (48.1%), and had a median age of 15.0 years (interquartile range 14-16). Compared with patients presenting because of an intentional overdose, patients presenting because of traumatic suicide attempts were associated with a reported criminal history (odds ratio [OR] 14.50 [95% confidence interval {CI} 3.84-54.82]), reported Child Protective Services history (OR 3.26 [95% CI 0.99-10.77]), being publicly insured or uninsured (OR 1.80 [95% CI 1.02-3.19]), male (OR 2.37 [95% CI 1.28-4.38]), and identifying as Hispanic (OR 2.01 [95% CI 1.10-3.68).ConclusionsOur findings inform targeted preventative resources and education efforts to populations of greatest need.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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