Epidemiological characteristics of the pediatric suicide attempt at the "Dr. Antonio Luaces Iraola" Provincial General Teaching Hospital
Keywords:
adolescent; hospitalized adolescent; pediatric emergency medicine; statistical indicators; suicide attemptAbstract
Introduction: suicide attempt is a global public health problem. Lack of knowledge about its specific epidemiological contexts hinders the adoption of important hospital-based decision-making.
Objective: to describe the epidemiological characteristics of suicide attempts in pediatric patients.
Methods: a cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in the pediatric emergency department of the Provincial Hospital of Ciego de Ávila, from June 2024 to June 2025. From a universe of 53 patients, a sample of 48 patients aged between 5 and 18 years who had attempted suicide was selected, registered in the service consultation records. The variables analyzed included age group, sex, place of residence, suicide method, and repetition of the attempt, among others. The ethical principles of research were observed.
Results: 52.00% were aged between 15 and 18 years, and 64.60% were female. Patients were equally distributed between urban and rural areas. In 77.00% of cases, medication tablets were ingested. There were 11 severe cases and no deaths. A total of 18.6% of patients had a repeated suicide attempt. The incidence rate was 33.00 per 10,000 emergency department visits, and 83.6 per 10,000 in the 15–18 age group.As a notifiable disease, suicide attempts accounted for 37.70% of the cases registered in the institution.
Conclusions: in pediatric patients, suicide attempts are a serious and significant issue. The predominance of the 15–18 years age group, female sex, ingestion of medications as the method, and multiple repeat attempts are epidemiological variables that may indicate lethality. This study provides a primary local epidemiological characterization that can serve as a basis for future research.
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