A Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Lethal Means Assessment and Risk for Subsequent Suicide Attempts and Deaths.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Counseling on access to lethal means is highly recommended for patients with suicide risk, but there are no formal evaluations of its impact in real-world settings.

Objective

Evaluate whether lethal means assessment reduces the likelihood of suicide attempt and death outcomes.

Design

Quasi-experimental design using an instrumental variable to overcome confounding due to unmeasured patient characteristics that could influence provider decisions to deliver lethal means assessment.

Setting

Kaiser Permanente Colorado, an integrated health system serving over 600,000 members, with comprehensive capture of all electronic health records, medical claims, and death information.

Participants

Adult patients who endorsed suicide ideation on the Patient He

SUBMITTER: Boggs JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7280370 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature