Table 1 Demographic and clinical characteristics of adolescent patients with suicide attempt-related ED visits from 2016 to 2019

Age

  14–16 years

4,317 (37.6)

3,066 (36.3)

1,251 (41.6)

< 0.0001

  17–19 years

7,145 (62.3)

5,390 (63.7)

1,755 (58.3)

Female sex

7,476 (65.2)

5,357 (63.3)

2,119 (70.4)

< 0.0001

Insurance type

  NHI

9,213 (80.4)

6,840 (80.8)

2,373 (78.9)

0.069

  Medicaid

1,005 (8.8)

721 (8.5)

284 (9.5)

  Other

1,244 (10.9)

895 (10.5)

349 (11.6)

  EMS use

4,669 (40.7)

3,337 (39.4)

1,332 (44.3)

< 0.0001

KTAS score

  1–3

6,390 (55.7)

3,987 (47.1)

2,403 (79.9)

< 0.0001

  4–5

5,072 (44.2)

4,469 (52.8)

603 (20.0)

Year

  2016

1,894 (16.5)

1,344 (15.8)

550 (18.3)

0.011

  2017

2,266 (19.7)

1,677 (19.8)

589 (19.5)

  2018

3,410 (29.7)

2,514 (29.7)

896 (29.8)

  2019

3,892 (33.9)

2,921 (34.5)

971 (32.3)

Season

  Spring

2,760 (24.0)

2,028 (24.0)

732 (24.3)

0.774

  Summer

3,263 (28.4)

2,401 (28.4)

862 (28.6)

  Fall

3,115 (27.1)

2,320 (27.4)

795 (26.4)

  Winter

2,324 (20.2)

1,707 (20.2)

617 (20.5)

Method of suicide attempts

  Poisoning

5,009 (43.7)

2,916 (34.5)

2,093 (69.7)

< 0.0001

  Cutting and piercing

4,507 (39.4)

4,070 (48.2)

437 (14.5)

  Others

1,937 (16.9)

1,464 (17.3)

473 (15.7)

Major treatment subject

  Psychiatry

2,076 (18.1)

1,715 (20.3)

361 (12.0)

< 0.0001

  Time from event to arrival (h)

1.1 (0.6–3.9)

1.0 (0.6–3.0)

2.0 (0.7–6.0)

< 0.0001

Time of arrival

  07:00–14:59

2,693 (23.5)

1,822 (21.5)

871 (28.9)

< 0.0001

  15:00–22:59

4,414 (38.5)

3,236 (38.2)

1,178 (39.1)

  23:00–06:59

4,355 (38.0)

3,398 (40.1)

957 (31.8)

Region

  Urban

5,379 (46.9)

4,014 (47.5)

1,365 (45.4)

0.051

  Rural

6,083 (53.0)

4,442 (52.5)

1,641 (54.5)

Hospital beds

  ≥ 600

5,508 (48.0)

3,996 (47.2)

1,512 (50.3)

0.004

  300–599

1,433 (12.5)

1,050 (12.4)

383 (12.7)

  < 300

4,521 (39.4)

3,410 (40.3)

1,111 (36.9)

  Length of stay ≥ 6 h

2,626 (22.9)

1,665 (19.6)

961 (31.9)

< 0.0001