Exploring the Incidence of Immediate Suicidality Among Hand Surgery Clinic Patients

Purpose

Depression is a known comorbidity in patients with chronic pain and musculoskeletal conditions, including specialty hand clinic patients. A subset experience active suicidal ideation or thoughts of self-harm at or around the time of their visit; however, epidemiological data are limited. We aimed to determine the prevalence of active suicidal ideation and hypothesized that hand surgery patients endorsing it would report greater pain, worse physical function, and greater socioeconomic disadvantage than those without suicidal ideation.