Treatment priority for suicide ideation and behaviours at an Australian emergency department

Table 1 Factors associated with receiving more urgent triage categories after presentation for suicide ideation and communication or non-fatal suicidal behaviour, ordered logistic regression, 2005 to 2010, persons per year

Variables	OR	95%CI	P value
Sex (ref. = female )	1.12	1.04-1.22	0.004
Age (yr)
10-24	1.00
25-44	1.39	1.27-1.52	< 0.001
45-64	1.75	1.56-1.96	< 0.001
≥ 65	2.37	1.90-2.96	< 0.001
Attempt (ref. = SIC)	3.93	3.57-4.34	< 0.001
Present (ref. = 1 only)	1.15	1.05-1.27	0.003
Multiple method (ref. = 1 only)	1.63	1.46-1.82	< 0.001

Outcome variable represents triage priority of treatment (from treatment within 120 min to immediate treatment). SIC: Suicide ideation and communication.

Table 2 Presentations of suicide ideation and communication and non-fatal suicidal behaviour by aggregate triage score, 2005 to 2010, ordered logistic regression, males

Variables	Male (n = 4578)	OR	95%CI	P value	Female(n = 5833)	OR	95%CI	P value
SIC	51.31	1.00			38.25	1.00
Analgesic	5.83	8.90	6.54-12.11	< 0.001	10.34	7.75	6.16-9.76	< 0.001
Antidepressant/sedatives	18.89	9.99	8.12-12.28	< 0.001	26.85	8.28	6.94-9.89	< 0.001
Other drugs	5.79	23.21	17.46-30.86	< 0.001	5.88	17.10	13.22-22.12	< 0.001
Chemicals, poisons, gases	1.90	17.77	11.55-27.35	< 0.001	0.98	10.16	5.84-17.67	< 0.001
Other methods	5.48	3.17	2.34-4.28	< 0.001	4.80	2.10	1.58-2.80	< 0.001
Cutting	10.79	1.44	1.16-1.77	0.001	12.91	0.83	0.70-0.99	0.034

Outcome variable represents triage priority of treatment (from treatment within 120 min to immediate treatment). Model controls for age, number of methods (one vs multiple methods), and number of past presentations SI (multiple vs none). SIC: Suicide ideation and communication.