Socio-demographic characteristics, clinical profile and prevalence of existing mental illness among suicide attempters attending emergency services at two hospitals in Hawassa city, South Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Sociodemographic Characteristics and Clinical Profile of Suicide Attempters Attending the Emergency Department at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Oman: A Retrospective Study

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of individuals who attended the emergency department of a tertiary care center in Muscat, Oman following a suicide attempt.

METHODS

A retrospective study (N=154) was conducted between January 2015 and June 2018. Information that was collected included sociodemographic variables (age, nationality, sex, marital status, and occupation), risk (medical comorbidities, psychiatric history, substance misuse, alcohol misuse, and previous history of suicide attempts), and precipitating factors, as well as the chosen methods for the suicide attempts.

RESULTS

In all, 83.1% of the sample were Omanis, and women constituted 69.5%. The mean age of the sample was 27 years; 30% were students, 42% were unemployed, and 40.9% had a history of psychiatric disorders. Family conflict, suffering from chronic illness, and having social problems were the most common precipitating factors for the suicide attempt. The most common method used in the suicide attempt was drug overdose (48.1%), mainly involving paracetamol (acetaminophen) (40%). Significant gender differences emerged in precipitating factors, history of substance misuse, and methods of suicide.

CONCLUSIONS

The data from this study are consistent with international trends that suggest that women and younger age groups are the most vulnerable to suicide attempts. Although in its infancy, the type of research presented here could lay the groundwork for preventive interventions and programs.

Outcomes of community-based suicide prevention program in primary health care of Iran

Background

Suicidal management and prevention in communities, especially in its first stages, is an effective intervention for the health systems. However, in numerous societies most cases go undetected. Primary Health Care (PHC) is an effective place for the management of Suicide Prevention Programs (SPP). In Malekan County, a health community assessment found suicide as the most important health problem. A regional SPP was performed for suicide prevention during 2014–2017.

Methods

This study was carried out in six steps: (1) Establishing a research team, (2) Improving a registry for suicidal behaviors (SBs), (3) Identifying local determinants of SBs, (4) Training healthcare providers, (5) Follow-up and monitoring of SBs, and (6) Public awareness campaigns. Our ultimate goal was to lower the rates of suicide, and suicide attempt (SA) by 15 and 20 %, respectively. Multiple logistic regression was used to estimate the adjusted odds ratios and the 95% confidence intervals.

Results

A total of 821 SAs and 32 suicides were identified. The gender distribution for suicides was 70% males whereas SAs were 64% among females. The majority of suicides occurred in spring 18 (56.25%) while summer was the most common season among SAs 288 (35.8%). Almost 62 and 75% of suicides and SAs have used hanging and poisoning methods, respectively. Hanging increased suicide risk significantly (OR: 8.5, 95% CI 2.9–76.99). During the study, 93 life-skill and parenting education sessions were held. The incidence rates of suicide and SA decreased from 11.22, and 203 per 100,000 in 2013 to 2.63, and 157 in 2017, respectively. Similarly, the re-attempt to SAs ratio decreased from 12% to 2013 to 6.7% in 2017. Moreover, more than 8% of SBs were collected from adjacent Counties.

Conclusions

At the study end, suicide, SA, and re-attempt were lowered by 75%, 22%, and 42%, respectively. The practical framework that achieved in this study could be used as a basis for developing future SPPs and suicide researches in the Iranian context. Furthermore, the various socio-economic and socio-cultural challenges highlight the need to consider a wide range of contextual factors when developing an SPP.

Evaluation of risk factors for Suicide Attempts in Turkey's East: A Five-Year Study

Objectives:

Suicide attempt has different risk factors for each community. In the study we aimed to reveal the causes of suicide attempt in Turkey’s Eastern part and to make suggestions to prevent suicide.

Methods:

For this study, 130 patients who were admitted to the Emergency Department of the University Hospital due to suicide attempt between January 2013 and December 2017 were included. Our University Hospital is the largest hospital in the East of Turkey. The data were obtained from hospital records and files of judicial investigations. Clinical progress records were obtained from the hospital archive. Investigation files were received from local judicial units.

Results:

Fifty six percent of the patients (n = 73) were female. 48% of female cases (n = 35) were married. There was major depressive disorder in 34% (n = 44) of the cases. Medicine taking was the most frequent suicide method with 63% (n = 82). The main reason for suicide was parental conflicts for female cases; and psychiatric and financial problems for males.

Conclusion:

Family therapy for married individuals would reduce suicide attempts in females. Psychiatric history is an important risk factor and it should be ensured that these patients are followed up regularly by the health institutions and their relatives. To prevent drug abuse, there should not be too much medicine in homes. If medicine is available at home, it should be kept in a safer environment.

Psychiatric morbidity and suicidal behaviour in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Psychiatric disorders are reported to be present in 80% to 90% of suicide deaths in high-income countries (HIC), but this association is less clear in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). There has been no previous systematic review of this issue in LMIC. The current study aims to estimate the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in individuals with suicidal behaviour in LMIC.

METHODS AND FINDINGS

PubMed, PsycINFO, and EMBASE searches were conducted to identify quantitative research papers (any language) between 1990 and 2018 from LMIC that reported on the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in suicidal behaviour. We used meta-analytic techniques to generate pooled estimates for any psychiatric disorder and specific diagnosis based on International classification of disease (ICD-10) criteria. A total of 112 studies (154 papers) from 26 LMIC (India: 25%, China: 15%, and other LMIC: 60%) were identified, including 18 non-English articles. They included 30,030 individuals with nonfatal suicidal behaviour and 4,996 individuals who had died by suicide. Of the 15 studies (5 LMIC) that scored highly on our quality assessment, prevalence estimates for psychiatric disorders ranged between 30% and 80% in suicide deaths and between 3% and 86% in those who engaged in nonfatal suicidal behaviour. There was substantial heterogeneity between study estimates. Fifty-eight percent (95% CI 46%-71%) of those who died by suicide and 45% (95% CI 30%-61%) of those who engaged in nonfatal suicidal behaviour had a psychiatric disorder. The most prevalent disorder in both fatal and nonfatal suicidal behaviour was mood disorder (25% and 21%, respectively). Schizophrenia and related disorders were identified in 8% (4%-12%) of those who died by suicide and 7% (3%-11%) of those who engaged in nonfatal suicidal behaviour. In nonfatal suicidal behaviour, anxiety disorders, and substance misuse were identified in 19% (1%-36%) and 11% (7%-16%) of individuals, respectively. This systematic review was limited by the low number of high-quality studies and restricting our searches to databases that mainly indexed English language journals.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest a possible lower prevalence of psychiatric disorders in suicidal behaviour in LMIC. We found very few high-quality studies and high levels of heterogeneity in pooled estimates of psychiatric disorder, which could reflect differing study methods or real differences. There is a clear need for more robust evidence in order for LMIC to strike the right balance between community-based and mental health focussed interventions.

Assistance related to suicidal behavior at a mobile emergency service: Sociodemographic and clinical associated factors

It is important to investigate the care given to people with suicidal behavior, as it is an important predictor of future death by suicide and there is a lack of studies on this issue in Brazil. This study had the objective of investigating assistance related to suicidal behavior at a mobile emergency service and sociodemographic and clinical associated factors. This was a quantitative, cross-sectional study based on documental information. The data were collected through manual consultation of nursing records in which call-outs for suicidal behavior in the year 2014 were documented. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-squared test, Fisher's exact test, correlation tests, and comparison of means tests. In the 313 records analyzed there was a predominance of adult women with self-inflicted drug poisoning, attended to in their own residence and referred to pre-hospital emergency medical services. There was a lack of documentation on signs, symptoms, and grievances in most cases. The interventions most carried out by the nurses were related to monitoring of clinical parameters. There were differences related to the victim's sex and lethality, suicide attempt method, referral to emergency services, and semester of occurrence (January-June, July-December). Suicide attempts through self-poisoning or self-inflicted injuries differed in relation to time of call-out, waiting time, lethality, documentation on clinical assessment and interventions, and referral to emergency services. This study enabled the charting of factors linked with suicidal behavior and associated factors; it offers reflections on limitations and nursing care potential in the prevention of reoccurrence of suicidal behavior.