Mental Health Update: 'The Weekend Effect' May Not Have Anything To Do With Suicide After All

A study from the University of Manchester suggested by the current government policy for a 'seven-day NHS', has discovered that deaths related to suicide by patients with mental health conditions are actually at its lowest during the weekends.

According to eurekalert.org, the current government policy was made to extend health services to a full 'seven-day NHS', due to claims that patients admitted during the weekends are more likely to die because of lack of a medical health professional and services.

The study conducted by researchers at the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide and published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, is one of the first to explore the so-called 'weekend effect' in mental health. Despite previous studies on hospital deaths, the paper revealed that incidence of suicide was 12 to 15 percent lower during weekends.

Professor Nav Kapur, from The University of Manchester and the Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust, led the study. He said: "We wanted to explore a possible weekend effect on patient suicide. We looked at specific groups being treated in hospital or the community who might be particularly vulnerable to changes in care. We actually found a markedly reduced suicide risk at the weekend. We also found a reduced risk in people who were admitted at the weekend."

Manchester.ac.uk wrote that for the study, the researchers analyzed 5,613 suicide deaths in England between 2001 and 2013. They investigated the deaths by suicide in inpatients, especially those who had been discharged from psychiatric hospital within the last three months and those under the care of crisis resolution home treatment teams. By checking the deaths, researchers found that in all groups, suicide was less likely to happen at the weekend.

Whether it was inside or outside of the hospital, however, the effect wasn't there, at least negatively. "We actually found a markedly reduced suicide risk at the weekend," said Kapur. "We also found a reduced risk in people who were admitted at the weekend."

Researchers also took it upon themselves to probe on the idea of an August effect, a month when final-year medical students become doctors and junior doctors become a grade more senior. Past studies suggested that this could affect patient care but the current found no evidence of an increase in suicide incidence during this month, Medical Daily reported.

Although the findings can only show a possible connection between the weekend and the incidence of suicides, and not the reasons behind it, the authors came up with several theories. An example is, suicide prevention is usually provided through different outlets like counseling call centers that are less dependent on the availability of doctors than other types of emergency. Researchers also found that the greater the social support the patient experiences, the lower the risk of mental health crisis is.

"Although the causes of suicide are varied and complex, we do know from our previous work that the way services are organised and staffed can have an effect," said Kapur. "In this case however, our results did not suggest a weekend effect on suicide."