Suicide is a leading cause of death among adolescents.

To investigate suicidal behaviors among Italian adolescents.

To assess the rates of suicidal ideation (SI) and suicide attempts (SA) and the associated risk factors in patients admitted to emergency department (ED) of the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital.

Retrospective study based on data of patients admitted to the ED from 1 January 2011 to 30 May 2016 who required a neuropsychiatric (NPI) consultation. We analyzed:

– outcome of the NPI consultation (hospitalization or discharge);

– risk factors for SA and SI;

– methods employed for SA.

The number of NPI consultations for SI and SA increased from 6.45% in 2011 to 13.3% in 2015. More than 90% of consultations recommended hospitalization in the psychiatric unit (137 patient [66% female]; mean age of 15.5 ± 1.6 years) with average length of stay of 13.64 ± 10.63 days. Risk factors for SI and SA were non-suicidal self-injury, family conflicts and previous suicide attempts. Subjects evaluated for a SA reported a significantly higher frequency of family history of mood disorder (χ2 = 5.94; P = 0.02) and a comorbid substance abuse (χ2 = 4.49; P = 0.03) when compared with SI group. The method most frequently used to attempt suicide was ingestion of medications (52.83%).

There was an increasing demand of NPI consultation of SA and SI in the last years. A family history of mood disorder and a history of substance abuse are risk factors able to differentiate between SI and SA.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.