Patient characteristics prior to suicide attempts among Hispanics compared to non-Hispanic whites in the United States

Suicide rates among Hispanics in the United States are much lower than rates among Whites. The reasons for this difference are uncertain, therefore we compared patient characteristics between Hispanic and White patients with a suicide attempt. Patients with a suicide attempt (n = 8641) between 2012 and 2018 were identified by ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes in a nationally distributed electronic health record data base. Patient demographics, geographic region, health services use, depression treatment, psychiatric and physical comorbidities were measured in the 2 years prior to a suicide attempt. Most patients with a suicide attempt were White (78.6%) and 6.2% were Hispanic, a majority were 36–64 years of age and 57.3% were female. Younger age and lack of health insurance were significantly (p