Socio-demographic profile and psychiatric morbidities of suicide attempters: a cross-sectional observation in a tertiary care hospital of Bangladesh

Abstract

Nearly 800,000 people die due to suicide every year, which is 1 person every 40 seconds. In 2015, suicide alone accounted for 1.4% of all deaths worldwide, making it the 17th leading cause of death. 1 60% of these occur in Asia as estimated. 1 A recent review of suicide in Asia demonstrates higher average suicide rates in Asia compared to high-income countries. 2 Despite the fact that it is an enormous public health issue, suicide receives relatively less attention.According to the latest data published in may 2014 by World Health Organization (WHO), suicide deaths in Bangladesh reached 10,167 or 1.40% of total deaths. The age adjusted death rate is 7.63 per 100,000 of population which ranks Bangladesh 97 th in the world. 3 So it is crucial to understand the predisposing factors behind the suicide attempts among the population for preventing it. Given that most people who choose to end their lives do so for complex reasons, psychiatric problems such as depression and other mood disorders play a central role. 4 Recent studies of Deliberate Self Harm (DSH) from other countries have reported high rates of psychiatric disorders as well. 5-10 Study showed suicide attempt rates are 10-40 times higher than rates for completed suicides. 11 The methods used for suicidal attempts are usually different, ranging from self-poisoning to hanging, self-cutting etc. This may be related to the differences in the accessibility of certain methods. In the WHO Multicentre Study, 64 per cent of males and 80 percent of females used self poisoning. 12 And more than 50% of the suicide attempters made more than one attempt, and nearly 20% of the second attempts were made within 12 months after the first attempt. 11 There is also socio demographic risk factors in relation to repetition, which belong to the age group of 25 to 49 years, being divorced, unemployed, and coming from low social class. 12 In this study SummarySuicide is a perplexing phenomenon of taking one's own life. Reasons behind suicide attempts are also unique. Clinical characteristics of these patients have not been adequately studied from a psychosocial and psychiatric point in Bangladesh. This study was aimed to assess the sociodemographic profile and psychiatric morbidities in suicide attempters. This was a descriptive cross sectional study conducted from May 2017 to September 2017. A total of 101 patients were selected purposively who were admitted following suicide attempt in different departments of Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RMCH). Medical officers in the psychiatry department interviewed them by using a semi-structured questionnaire. Diagnosis was made according to DSM-IV. The results showed that the majority of the respondents were socio-economically deprived young persons. Most (42%) of them were <20 years of age with female (53%) preponderance. Among them 51% were unmarried, 73% were rural dwellers 37% were students and 58% attempts were impulsive. Among the respondents 63% had no prior suicidal thoughts, 56% resorted to poisoning, 49% attempted due to dom...

Psychiatric Co-Morbidities of Suicide Attempters: A Cross Sectional Observation in a Tertiary Care Hospital of North India

“…A similar study conducted in Kashmir in 2010 14 showed 15% of cases had personality disorders in their study sample. Another study conducted by Roy et al 24 in Bangladesh in 2018 had personality disorders in 7% of their study population which is close to the results in our study.…”

Socio-Demographic Profile of Suicidal Death at Manikganj District, Bangladesh: A One Year Autopsy Based Study

“…13,14 Another study done by Paresh Chandegara et al at India which is inconsistent with our study where Male cases were highest in number than Female cases (62.84% & 37.15% respectively) and common age group was 21 to 30 years (37.7%). 15 212 Table-II:…”

Socio-demographic profile and mode of attempt of suicide among suicide attempters in Kashmir: a hospital-based study

“…This result is in concordance with the study results of Shoib et al (59.92%), Manhas et al (56.8%) and Roy, et al (73%). 18,20,24 This result may be explained by the fact that rural areas have low literacy rates and higher unemployment rates which is further complicated by financial difficulties and low socioeconomic status.…”