| Summary: | Background: Various studies have attributed gender based differences of suicidal behaviour to various socio-demographic factors; however there is need to study of the various clinical factors associated with gender based differences in psychiatric patients with suicide attempt.
Methods: One hundred eleven patients with current suicide attempt were evaluated for depression severity, hopelessness, suicide ideations, suicide intent, past attempts, both suicidal and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), and psychotic symptoms.
Results: The diagnostic breakup was - 30.6% schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD), 63.1% affective disorders (AD), and 6.3% other disorders. Over 60% of the suicide attempters were females. The most frequent reason given for attempting suicide was psychiatric illness in case of females, 36.02%, and psychotic symptoms, 28.6% in case of males. The number of suicide attempts and frequency of NSSI were in a higher range for females as compared with males. No significant differences were found in Beck Depression severity, hopelessness, suicide ideation, and suicide intent between males and females. Females used non-lethal methods as compared to males in patients with SSD (p = 0.24) and AD (p = 0.04).
Conclusion: Female suicide attempters were more than male suicide attempters, and the number of suicide attempts and the frequency of NSSI too were in a higher range for females. The most frequent reason for attempting suicide was different between females and males. Because attempted suicide is a risk factor for suicide at a later date, the implications of these gender-specific differences for clinical practice must be taken into consideration while framing measures for suicide prevention.
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