Why Screening Matters in Pediatric Primary Care: Adolescent Suicide Risk from a 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

INTRODUCTION Suicide is the second leading cause of death among the adolescent patient population with limited evidence supporting routine suicide screening. This study sought to assess adolescent suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and mental wellbeing to inform evidence-based universal suicide screening practice.

Method

A secondary data analysis of the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey was conducted. Descriptive statistics and ordinal logistic regression were performed, using SPSS v.29, with a significance level of 0.05.

Results

The majority of participants were male (50.3%), over 16 years-old (61.3%), and White (49.2%). Compared with participants always reporting poor mental health without suicidal ideation, those with suicidal ideation and better mental health had significantly higher odds of more suicidal attempts (always good: OR = 19.14, 95% CI = 11.69-31.33; sometimes good: OR = 17.68, 95% CI = 13.53-23.09, p < .001).

Conclusions

Consideration of universal suicide screening among adolescents may be warranted; however, the significance of the findings requires further examination.