Suicide after contact with a national digital mental health service

BACKGROUND: The safety of mental health care provided remotely via the internet, in particular, the probability of suicide after contact, is not known. METHOD: An observational cohort study of patients registered with the MindSpot Clinic an Australian national digital mental health service (DMHS), linked to the National Death Index. Measures included demographic information, the nature of contact, duration between last contact and death, scores on measures of psychological distress (K-10), depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7), and responses to questions about suicidal thoughts or plans for patients who died by suicide within two years of last contact with the service. RESULTS: Sixty-four (0.11%) of 59,033 patients registered with the MindSpot Clinic between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2016 died from suicide within two years of last contact. The mean time between last contact and death was 344 days. Fourteen patients died within 90 days of last contact, and 4 of 285 who were urgently referred for crisis service intervention at the time of contact or soon afterwards died within 2 years. Suicidal thoughts (OR: 2.59), a suicide plan (OR: 10.8), and a score of “3” to item 9 of the PHQ9 (OR: 16.4) were significantly associated with subsequent suicide. Patients who died by suicide were more likely to be male (OR: 3.2), middle-aged (35–45; OR: 2.3), separated or divorced (OR: 3.1), unemployed (OR: 3.1) or receiving disability benefits (OR: 5.1). Enrolling in an online treatment course was associated with reduced risk (OR: 0.38). CONCLUSIONS: Although DMHS provide services to patients with severe symptoms of depression, only a small proportion died by suicide, and only a small number of those referred for urgent care, which suggests that the safety protocols of the clinic are relatively effective.