Relationships of Suicide Ideation with Cause-Specific Mortality in a Longitudinal Study of South Koreans

Using 7-year mortality follow-up data (n = 341) from the 1998 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys of South Korean individuals (N=5,414), the authors found that survey participants with suicide ideation were at increased risk of suicide mortality during the follow-up period compared with those without suicide ideation. The cause-specific analyses showed that, in men, suicide ideation was significantly associated with mortality clue to cardiovascular disease, external causes, and other causes. However, there was no significant association between suicide ideation and cause-specific mortality in women. The relationship between suicide ideation and cause-specific mortality in men was not fully explained by baseline health status, socioeconomic status, health behavior, or psychosocial factors.