Journal of Critical and Intensive Care 2022 , Vol 13 , Issue 2
Epidemiology and Nature of Suicide Attempts in Children and Adolescents at the Tertiary Care Pediatric Hospitals; a Multicentre Retrospective Study in Turkey
Ozlem SARAC SANDAL1,Ebru Atike ONGUN1,Ayla UZUN CICEK2,Seda Aybuke SARI2,Ozlem TEMEL3,Gokhan CEYLAN4
1Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Medicine, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Sivas, Turkey
2Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Medicine, Child and Adolescent Psychiatr, Sivas, Turkey
3Konya Training And Research Hospital, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Konya, Turkey
4Dr. Behcet Uz Pediatric Diseases and Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Pediatric İntensive Care Unit , İzmir, Turkey
DOI : 10.37678/dcybd.2022.3054

Summary

Introduction: Suicide and suicide attempts are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the youth population worldwide, with drastically increased rates over the past years.

Objectives: We aimed to investigate the major risk factors, sociodemographic characteristics, and prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in children that hospitalized in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) for selfpoisoning suicide attempts through drug overdose.

Methods: We performed a descriptive, cross-sectional retrospective study, including all the cases of suicide attempts that hospitalized at pediatric intensive care unit between January 2015 and December 2020. Results: In the study period, 356 children of self-poisoning suicide occurred, 20 cases were excluded from the study. The mean age of the study population was 14.98 ± 1.53 years. Seventy (20.8%) children were within 10-13 years with the predominance of female gender (female/male sex ratio: 3.35/1). Suicidal attempts were more common in females (p = 0.001). Considering the nature of attempt, toxic drug overdose (95.5%) appeared as the most frequent method of suicide, followed by intake of pesticides (4.5%). Antipyretics and antidepressants were the common pharmaceuticals involved in drug toxicity (21%, 19.3%).

Conclusions: The present results showed that the majority of suicide attempts occurred during adolescence, with an increase in pre-adolescence at a considerable rate. Overall, it is important to increase the knowledge of pediatricians about suicide attempts in children and provide psychosocial support for children and their families as a preventive measure after their first attempt.