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ABSTRACT: Background
Machine learning (ML) is increasingly used to predict suicide deaths but their value for suicide prevention has not been established. Our first objective was to identify risk and protective factors in a general population. Our second objective was to identify factors indicating imminent suicide risk.Methods
We used survival and ML models to identify lifetime predictors using the Cohort of Norway (n=173,275) and hospital diagnoses in a Saskatoon clinical sample (n=12,614). The mean follow-up times were 17 years and 3 years for the Cohort of Norway and Saskatoon respectively. People in the clinical sample had a longitudinal record of hospital visits grouped in six-month intervals. We developed models in a training set and these models predicted survival probabilities in held-out test data.Results
In the general population, we found that a higher proportion of low-income residents in a county, mood symptoms, and daily smoking increased the risk of dying from suicide in both genders. In the clinical sample, the only predictors identified were male gender and older age.Conclusion
Suicide prevention probably requires individual actions with governmental incentives. The prediction of imminent suicide remains highly challenging, but machine learning can identify early prevention targets.
SUBMITTER: Balbuena LD
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8848909 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Balbuena Lloyd D LD Baetz Marilyn M Sexton Joseph Andrew JA Harder Douglas D Feng Cindy Xin CX Boctor Kerstina K LaPointe Candace C Letwiniuk Elizabeth E Shamloo Arash A Ishwaran Hemant H John Ann A Brantsæter Anne Lise AL
BMC psychiatry 20220215 1
<h4>Background</h4>Machine learning (ML) is increasingly used to predict suicide deaths but their value for suicide prevention has not been established. Our first objective was to identify risk and protective factors in a general population. Our second objective was to identify factors indicating imminent suicide risk.<h4>Methods</h4>We used survival and ML models to identify lifetime predictors using the Cohort of Norway (n=173,275) and hospital diagnoses in a Saskatoon clinical sample (n=12,61 ...[more]