Statement of Purpose Suicide has remained in the top ten causes of death in the United States and domestic violence has been on the rise from 2016 to 2018 in the United States. The amalgamation of intimate partner violence and other circumstances increase risk of dying by suicide. These circumstances include exposure to violence and economic, physical, and mental health impacts. The purpose of this study was to look at intimate partner violence as a circumstance related to suicide, over time, from 2005–2019.

Methods/Approach A coding schema, developed by Brown and Seals in 2019, was used to code Data from the Kentucky Violent Death Reporting System from 2005–2019. A subset of suicides, excluding homicide followed by suicide decedents, with known circumstances were identified and qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted to examine differences between cases with known intimate partner problems and cases identified using the new coding schema. Trend analysis was conducted to examine the relationship of intimate partner violence in suicides over time.

Results In the fifteen years of data there were 9810 suicide decedents, 7520 had a known circumstance. Of those with known circumstances about 25% had a circumstance relating to an intimate partner problem. With the majority of the decedents being male, 25–39, and white. With some changes over time in decedents aged 18 to 24.

Conclusion With both intimate partner violence and suicide on the rise, understanding areas for intervention for both are imperative. Understanding how the trends have changed over time and using the intimate partner violence coding schema allows for better suicide intervention.