Changing Characteristics of Young Suicide Attempters in Tokyo, Japan

Abstract Background The number of young suicides in Japan has shifted from a decreasing trend to a flat or increasing trend since 2017. In order to identify the factors behind these changes, we investigated changes in the characteristics of young suicide attempters. Methods The subjects were suicide attempters under 30 years old who were admitted to the Critical Care Medical Center of Nippon Medical School Hospital between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2021. They were divided into two groups, one for pre-2017, and the other for post-2017. The means of suicide attempt, sociodemographic data, psychiatric diagnoses, and causes and motives of suicide attempts were retrospectively examined from medical records, and the two groups were compared and statistically analyzed. Results The proportion of suicide attempters under 30 years old was 27.9% (143 of 513) before 2017, compared to 38.0% (132 of 347) after 2017, with a significant increase in the latter group. There was a significant increase in the number of suicide attempters under 30 years old from 2017 to 2021 with respect to females and the percentage of drug overdoses, but no significant changes were observed in regard to employment status, residential status, history of self-harm, history of psychiatric consultation, psychiatric diagnosis, and causes and motives for suicide attempts. Conclusions As well as in young suicides, trend changes were observed between 2010–2016 and 2017–2021 with respect to suicide attempts by people under 30 years old, suggesting that the changes may be related to an increase in drug overdoses. It may be necessary to impose regulations on the ease with which information about drug overdoses can be obtained.