Characteristics of attempted suicides seen in emergency-care settings of general hospitals in eight low- and middle-income countries

Abstract

Action for the prevention of suicide attempts can be started immediately in the sites investigated by addressing the one most important method of attempted suicide, namely self-poisoning. Regulations for the access to drugs, medicaments, pesticides, and other toxic substances need to be improved and revised regulations must be implemented by integrating the efforts of different sectors, such as health, agriculture, education, and justice. The care of patients who attempt suicide needs to include routine psychiatric and psychosocial assessment and systematic referral to professional services after discharge.

Psychosocial Factors as Risk Factor in Suicidal Poisoning: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The finding consistent with the literature is that most of the cases reported represented persons in the age range 20-35 years (67.7%) [11] followed by 13-19 years (19.1%). This supports research that indicates that adolescents and young people are most at risk for suicide attempts [6,7,9]. Moreover, all other age categories showed high self-poisoning tendency in male except in 13-19 age category where female reported nearly twice admissions due to self-harm (Tables 1 and 2).…”

“…The results from this study revealed that most of the cases reported to the emergency department for suicide attempt by self-poisoning were males, a finding that is contrary to the previous studies where female outnumbered male [6][7][8][9][10]. The male:female ratio was 1:0.86 and significant (p<0.01).…”

“…Other factors such as chronic health problems and alcohol influence also influenced psychology of individuals who felt helpless and committed suicide. History of a psychiatric illness was not a predominant characteristic of patients who attempted suicide, and this is an interesting finding as extensive research has shown that a mental disorder is strongly associated with suicidal ideation and attempts [6,7,9,18]. However, there is a possibility that this is an underrepresentation as some of these patients may, in fact, have a psychiatric illness that has been undiagnosed up to the point of their ER visit.…”

Suicídios e tentativas de suicídios por intoxicação exógena no Rio de Janeiro: análise dos dados dos sistemas oficiais de informação em saúde, 2006-2008*

“…These findings are in agreement with the literature 5,13,21,30 . With regard to these differences, the literature emphasizes that men use more deadly methods and, for this reason, are more successful in their suicide attempts.…”

Psychiatric emergencies: psychomotor agitation management and suicide risk assessment

“…Um estudo realizado em salas de emergência de 8 países de baixa/mé-dia renda mostrou que, em metade dos serviços de emergência estudados, menos de um terço dos pacientes admitidos por tentativa de suicídio foi encaminhada para posterior avaliação e acompanhamento em serviços de saúde. 10 Até recentemente, o suicídio não era encarado como um problema de saúde pública no Brasil, provavelmente obscurecido pelas altas taxas de mortalidade por homicídio e acidentes de trânsito que ainda vigoram no país. No entanto, de 1998 a 2008, houve um aumento de 33,5% no número total de mortes por suicídio no Brasil, 11 o que reforça a necessidade de políticas públicas para a prevenção de mortes por suicídio.…”