ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Suicide has recently become an important social problem. Thus, we analyzed prescription drugs that cause suicidal ideation. METHODS: Of 156 drugs on the the Minister of Food and Drug Safty (MFDS) EZ-Drug site that had “suicide” listed as a side effect, 78 had “suicide” listed as a warning or contraindication; those 78 drugs were analyzed using data from the 2016 Health Insurance and Review and Assessment Services National Patient Sample (HIRA-NPS). RESULTS: 51 “suicide risk” drugs was identified. Of all patients, 5.2% had received such drugs. The prescription rate was 0.8% of all prescriptions, accounting for 1.6% of all prescription days. From logistic regression analysis, the prescription rate for the drugs was approximately 1.1 times higher for women than for men. With regard to age, the prescription rate for patients 66 years and older was 15.5 times higher than those for patients 25-years and lower. With regard to medical departments, the prescription rates in psychiatry and dermatology departments were 8.1 times higher and 0.6 times lower than those in internal medicine departments, respectively. With regard to region, the prescription rates in Daegu and Jeju were 1.3 times higher and 0.79 times lower than those in Seoul, respectively. CONCLUSION: Drug-induced suicidal behavior is possible, and therefore efforts are needed to prevent it.