Emergency room visits for suicide attempts: Rates, trends and sociodemographic characteristics of suicide attempts in Northeastern Anatolia

Résumé

textbfObjective: In this study, we aimed to assess the epidemiology of suicide attempts, especially focusing on rates and trends in Northeastern Turkey.textbf Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study including 893 parasuicide events recorded prospectively in 17 emergency rooms of state hospitals in two neighboring counties over three years. Information on each case was recorded on a standardized monitoring form that covered a series of sociodemographic and psychosocial features. textbfResults: In 2007, parasuicide rates per 100,000 inhabitants were 47.7 for females, 17.7 for males, and 32.5 for both genders. Suicide attempts were more common in women in all age groups except ≥ 50 years. The most common methods of deliberate self-harm were as follows: medical drug/toxic substance ingestion (93.3%), hanging (1.7%), and cutting or stabbing (3.6%). Housewives (53.8%) formed the largest group among women. Physical domestic violence was a common reason for suicide attempts in women aged 15-34 years. The only cited reason for suicide attempts that was predominant in males was financial difficulties. A previous psychiatric diagnosis was present in 19.5% of parasuicide cases, and the rate of seeing a doctor for psychiatric reasons in the last 6 months prior to the suicide attempt was 15.8%. textbfConclusion: Self-poisoning is the most common method for attempted suicide. The risk groups in our region appeared to be younger and married females. The epidemiology of suicide attempt cases in our region resembles a mixture of both European and Asian communities’ parasuicide patterns. TURQUIE EUROPE GENRE HOMME FEMME ÂGE ENFANT ADOLESCENT JEUNE-ADULTE ADULTE AÎNÉ TENTATIVE ÉPIDÉMIOLOGIE MOYEN PRÉVALENCE