Suicide risk and suicide risk factors among immigrants in Italy: A bi-center matched sample study

Abstract

Italy has the third-largest immigrant population of European Union countries, but only a few research papers have examined suicide risk in immigrant psychiatric patients in Italy. The main aim of this paper was to compare suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in a sample of 304 psychiatric patients. We included 152 immigrant patients matched with 152 Italian patients admitted to the same wards during the same time period by age, gender, and diagnosis. We also investigated sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the two samples including psychiatric diagnosis, age of illness onset, duration of illness, previous hospitalizations, length of hospitalization, previous suicide attempts, and substance and alcohol abuse. There were no differences between immigrant and Italian patients in either suicidal ideation (previous or current) or suicide attempts (previous or current). Immigrant patients were more likely to have a shorter duration of illness than the Italian patients and Italian patients were more likely to report substance abuse than were immigrant patients. Despite similar suicide rates between immigrants and Italian psychiatric inpatients, appropriate assessment of suicide risk in these patients is essential in implementing therapeutic suicide prevention strategies.

Keywords: Suicidal ideation; immigrants; psychiatric disorders; suicide attempt.