A REPETITION-PREDICTION STUDY OF EUROPEAN PARASUICIDE POPULATIONS - ASUMMARY OF THE FIRST REPORT FROM PART-II OF THE WHO EURO MULTICENTER STUDY ON PARASUICIDE IN COOPERATION WITH THE EC CONCERTED ACTION ON ATTEMPTED-SUICIDE/

One of the aims of the European Study on Parasuicide, which was initia ted by the Regional Office for the European Region of the World Health Organization in the mid-1980s, was to try to identify social and pers onal characteristics that are predictive of future suicidal behaviour. A follow-up interview study (the Repetition-Prediction Study) was des igned, and to date 1145 first-wave interviews have been conducted at n ine research centres, representing seven European countries. The prese nt paper provides an abridged version of the first report from the stu dy. The design and the instrument used (The European Parasuicide Study Interview Schedules, EPSIS I and II) are described. Some basic charac teristics of the samples from the various centres, such as sex, age, m ethod of suicide attempt, and history of previous attempts, are presen ted and compared. The male/female sex ratio ranged from 0.41 to 0.85; the mean age range for men was 33-45 years and that for women was 29-4 5 years. At all of the centres, self-poisoning was the most frequently employed method. On average, more than 50% of all respondents had att empted suicide at least once previously. The representativeness of the samples is discussed. There were differences between the centres in s everal respects, and also in some cases the representativeness of the different samples varied. Results obtained from analyses based on pool ed data should therefore be treated with caution.