Abstract Background Suicidal behavior in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been minimally explored. We aimed to determine United States (US) nationally representative prevalence estimates of suicidal ideation (SI) and suicide/self-inflicted injury (S/SII) among hospitalized adults with IBD and to examine trends in suicidal behavior over time. Methods A retrospective cross-sectional study using National (Nationwide) Inpatient Sample data (2006–2011) identified adults with Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC), SI or S/SII, and multiple comorbid risk factors for suicidal behavior. Results We identified 331,777 (estimated 1.64 million) IBD-related hospitalizations (64% CD, 36% UC) and 39,787,239 (estimated 196.08 million) hospitalizations among the general US population. Among IBD-related hospitalizations, 2502 discharges were associated with SI (prevalence 0.76%) and 1104 with S/SII (prevalence 0.33%). Both were significantly greater in CD versus UC (P < 0.001). Relative to the general US population, IBD patients were significantly less likely to demonstrate suicidal behavior: (SI:0.33% versus 0.59%, P < 0.001) (S/SII:0.75% versus 1.04%, P < 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression revealed that IBD was associated with decreased odds of SI (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.62, 95%CI 0.60–0.65) and S/SII (aOR 0.43, 95%CI 0.40–0.45) relative to the general population, and suicidal behavior was lower in IBD compared to disease-related controls with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Similar increasing trends in suicidal behavior were observed in IBD and non-IBD populations (2006–2011). Conclusion In this large US database, SI or S/SII occurred in over 1% of the IBD population and was increased in CD versus UC. 10.1093/ibd/izx005_video1 izx005.video1 5732754099001