To investigate predictors for repetition of suicide attempts 1–12 months after a suicide attempt.

Subjects and methods. – Two hundred and sixteen patients who had made a suicide attempt were investigated after 1 month, and 178 were followed up again after 12 months.

Results. – During 1–12 months after the suicide attempt, 30 patients reattempted suicide (repeaters). During 0–1 month 13 patients had reattempted suicide (early repeaters), and nine of them also repeated between 1 and 12 months. Repeaters had more often made three or more attempts before index attempt, they more often were in treatment at the index attempt and at 1 month they had lower global functioning and higher suicide ideation. In a Cox Regression analysis two predictors for repetition between 1 and 12 months remained significant; early repetition (OR 6.7, 95% CI, 3.0–14.9) and having GAF-scores below 49 (median cut-off) (OR 3.4 (95% CI, 1.5–7.5).

Conclusion. – Our findings suggest that repetitive behaviour in itself is a strong predictor of future attempts. Strategies focusing on the repetitive behaviour are warranted.