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. 2016 Jul 19;22(11):1626–1632. doi: 10.1038/mp.2016.115

Table 3. Methods of suicide and attempted suicide in obsessive-compulsive disorder cases and matched controls.

Method of suicide (n, %) OCD cases (n=545) General population controls (n=579) OR (95% CI)a
Self-poisoning 251 (46.06) 188 (32.47) 4.00 (1.13–14.17)
Self-injury 294 (53.94) 391 (67.53) 0.25 (0.07–0.89)
 Hanging, strangulation, suffocation 117 (21.47) 168 (29.02) 0.50 (0.12–2.00)
 Drowning 48 (8.81) 47 (8.12) 0.33 (0.03–3.20)
 Jumping or lying before moving object 40 (7.34) 50 (8.64) 0.50 (0.04–5.51)
 Jumping from a height 27 (4.95) 33 (5.70)
 Gassing 17 (3.12) 31 (5.35)
 Firearm or explosive 17 (3.12) 31 (5.35)
 Cutting or piercing 9 (1.65) 11 (1.90)
 Smoke, fire and flames 8 (1.47) 8 (1.38)
 Crashing of motor vehicle 6 (1.10) 7 (1.21)
 Other means 5 (0.92) 5 (0.86)
Method of attempted suicideb (n, %) OCD cases (n=4 297) General population controls (n=8 906) OR (95% CI)
Self-poisoning 3316 (77.17) 4920 (55.24) 2.33 (1.90–2.87)
Self-injury 1699 (39.54) 4647 (52.18) 0.78 (0.65–0.92)
 Cutting or piercing 860 (20.01) 1139 (12.79) 1.72 (1.36–2.17)
 Gassing 165 (3.84) 212 (2.38) 1.34 (0.81–2.20)
 Hanging, strangulation, suffocation 133 (3.10) 118 (1.32) 2.75 (1.51–5.02)
 Jumping from a height 97 (2.26) 148 (1.66) 2.28 (1.20–4.35)
 Smoke, fire and flames 52 (1.21) 55 (0.62) 3.57 (1.16–11.02)
 Jumping or lying before moving object 34 (0.79) 45 (0.51) 4.31 (1.40–13.27)
 Drowning 21 (0.49) 45 (0.51) 1.00 (0.32–3.10)
 Crashing of motor vehicle 21 (0.49) 30 (0.34) 3.77 (1.03–13.82)
 Firearm or explosive 10 (0.23) 35 (0.39) 0.22 (0.02–1.89)
 Other means 632 (14.71) 3 003 (33.72) 0.44 (0.35–0.55)

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; OCD, obsessive–compulsive disorder; OR, odds ratio.

a

Odds ratios for some of the methods and groups could not be calculated owing to small numbers.

b

Column totals for the methods of attempted suicide do not add up to the total of individuals who attempted suicide because the same person may have attempted suicide more than once using different methods in each occasion.