Mental and somatic symptoms related to suicidal ideation in patients visiting a psychosomatic clinic in Japan

Kouichi Yoshimasu¹, Tetsuya Kondo^2,4, Shoji Tokunaga³, Yoshio Kanemitsu², Hideyo Sugahara², Mariko Akamine², Kanichiro Fujisawa², Kazuhisa Miyashita¹, Chiharu Kubo²

¹Department of Hygiene, School of Medicine, Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama, Japan; ²Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Graduate school of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan; ³Department of Medical Informatics, Kyushu University Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan; ⁴Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Kansai University of Health Sciences, Osaka, Japan

Abstract: Patients with suicidal ideation (SI) have various mental or somatic symptoms. A questionnaire-based interview elicited details concerning mental and somatic symptoms in patients visiting a psychosomatic clinic in Japan. Univariate logistic regression analyses followed by multiple regression models using a stepwise method were selected for identifying the candidate symptoms. Overall, symptoms related to depression were associated with SI in both sexes. Although women showed more various somatic symptoms associated with SI than men, many of those associations were diminished once severity of the depression was controlled. The current results suggest that a variety of self-reported symptoms, mainly related to depression, might reveal suicidal risk in outpatients with an urban hospital clinical setting.

Keywords: suicidal ideation, psychosomatic clinic, subjective symptoms