Attempted suicide attention at an emergency room: A hospital-based descriptive approach

Abstract

Introduction

Suicide causes 1.4% of deaths worldwide. Twenty times more frequent, suicide attempts entail an important source of disability and of psychosocial and medical resources use.

Objective

To describe main socio-demographical and psychiatric risk factors of suicide attempters treated in a general hospital's emergency room basis.

Aims

To identify individual features potentially useful to improve both emergency treatments and resource investment.

Methods

A descriptive study including data from 2894 patients treated in a general hospital's emergency room after a suicidal attempt between years 2006 and 2014.

Results

Sixty-nine percent of the population treated after an attempted suicide were women. Mean age was 38 years old. Sixty-six percent had familiar support; 48.5% had previously attempted a suicide (13% did not answer this point); 72.6% showed a personal history of psychiatric illness. Drug use was present in 38.3% of the patients (20.3% did not answer this question); 23.5% were admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit. Medium cost of a psychiatric hospitalization was found to be 4900 euros.

Conclusion

This study results agree with previously reported data. Further observational studies are needed in order to bear out these findings, rule out potential confounders and thus infer and quantify causality related to each risk factor.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.