Suicidal ideation and health‐related quality of life in the community

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the health-related quality of life of people with suicidal ideation in the general community. DESIGN: A Health Omnibus Survey of a random, representative sample of the South Australian population in 1998, conducted by experienced interviewers. SUBJECTS: 3010 people over the age of 15 years. OUTCOME MEASURES: The survey included questions about utilisation of health services and the Short-form Health-related Quality of Life (SF-36) and Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) instruments. Suicidal ideation was determined in response to a direct question. RESULTS: 79 (2.6%) subjects reported suicidal ideation in the past two weeks. Compared with those without suicidal ideation, subjects with suicidal ideation reported significantly greater use of general practitioners, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and outpatient clinics (P<0.001), community health services and other counsellors (P<0.01), and more hospital admissions (P<0.05). Those subjects also scored significantly poorer on all subscales of both instruments (P<0.001), to the extent that they were below the 4th percentile on the role-emotional and mental health dimensions of the SF-36 and the social relationships, psychological wellbeing and overall scores of the AQoL. CONCLUSIONS: Suicidal ideation is associated with poor health-related quality of life. These results in a random and representative community sample add support to the need to improve targeting of those with suicidal ideation on a population basis with a view to earlier intervention.

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