Relationships between multimorbidity and suicidal thoughts and plans among Korean adults

Multimorbidity and suicide rates are rising simultaneously among Korean adults. To address this issue, we assessed the association between multimorbidity and suicidal behavior among adults aged ≥19 years in Korea. We analyzed the data from the 2017 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Multimorbidity was defined as experiencing two or more chronic diseases. We compared the presence of suicidal thoughts and plans according to multimorbidity using chi-square test, and examined the associations between multimorbidity and suicidal thoughts and plans using multiple binary logistic regression analyses. Multimorbidity was found in 30.8% of total participants. As the number of chronic diseases increased, the percentage of thoughts and plans tended to increase (p < 0.001 and p = 0.002). Among participants with multimorbidities, 8.5% had suicidal thoughts, whereas only 3.4% without multimorbidity had such thoughts (p < 0.001). Participants with multimorbidity had significantly higher odds of suicidal thoughts (OR = 2.14; 95% CI = 1.54–2.97) and suicidal plans (OR = 2.01; 95% CI = 1.08–3.73) compared to those without multimorbidity after adjusting confounding variables. Conclusion: People with multimorbidity had a higher prevalence of suicidal thoughts and plans. Early detection of and intervention for suicidal thoughts and plans are critical for suicide prevention among people with multimorbidity.