Suicide survivors are often left with worse physical and economic conditions after
their suicide attempt than before. A greater severity of suicide-related injuries is associated
with worse physical and economic conditions, and suicide survivors are highly likely to
re-attempt suicide out of despair regarding their situation. In addition, suicidal behavior
leads to socioeconomic loss beyond personal loss. Recently, all the reported suicide-related
risk factors have been suggested to have little explanatory strength - or to be incorrect.
Since suicide is a phenomenon triggered by the social environment, a nation—the largest
unit of the society—is responsible for managing (based on evidence) the issue of suicide.
Unlike previous studies, this study aimed to identify socio-environmental factors influencing
the severity of suicide-related injuries that can impact the physical and economic conditions
of suicide survivors. This study also aimed to provide basic data for planning suicide-related
projects at government and municipal levels.
Information on patients hospitalized after a suicide attempt was obtained from the
2014 National Hospital In-Depth Injury Survey data (published in 2015), and the ICE-ICISS
values were used to analyze the severity of suicide-related injuries. Socio-environmental
factors were selected among all statistical indices contained in “statistics by topic”,
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“statistics by agency” and “E-local statistics” published by the National Statistical Office.
The influence of these factors was identified using a complex sampling design.
The explanatory strength of the model—which included influencing factors of sex,
age, the source of payment, and the mechanism of injury sustained—was 52.9%. Mining
(β=-2.340, p<.05) and local emergency medical institutions (β=-0.162, p<.05) were found
to increase the severity of the suicide-related injuries.
In order to reduce the severity of suicide-related injuries, it is necessary to improve
local emergency medical institutions and related systems, and to continuously manage
community residents’ underlying vulnerability to suicide. In particular, such efforts may be
needed more at the regional level.