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Suicide and mental pathology in Tunis: retrospective study over 12 years at the Razi Hospital. Suicide is the act of taking one’s own life. It is a significant public health problem |
l'Information Psychiatrique. Volume 85, Number 3, 281-95, mars 2009, À propos de…
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 Résumé
Article gratuit
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Author(s) : Rim Ghachem, Afif Boussetta, Ahmed Benasr, Nejia Oumaya |
Summary : The aim of this study is to draw up an epidemiological profile of victims and to establish the predictive risk factors of suicide.We retrospectively collated 38 deaths by suicide with a psychiatric history who had consulted or attended the Razi Hospital.The main parameters analysed were the epidemiological characteristics (age, gender, marital status, occupation, and socioeconomic level), suicide methods (handing, drowning, medical drug ingestion, drug use, precipitation and immolation), and risk factors (family history of suicide, personal somatic history and history of suicide attempt, use of drugs, presence of a psychiatric pathology, age at start of illness, number of hospitalisation episodes, average duration of the evolution of the illness, therapeutic compliance, and family and social management).The epidemiological profile established was that of a young population (36 years), male (81 %), single (65 %) and of a low socioeconomic level.Some of these characteristics are suicide risk factors, such as unemployment, celibacy, and low socioeconomic level.Other identified risk factors included the presence of a family history of suicide (10 %), a personal history of somatic pathology (31 %) and of suicide attempts (36 %), use of drugs (20 %), a high number of hospitalisation episodes including more than 5 times in 33 % of cases, an average duration of the evolution of the illness of 10 years, poor therapeutic compliance in 84 % of cases and poor family and social management in 84 % of suicides.The most widely used suicide method was hanging (58 %).These same risk factors were found in the global literature, except for the predominant psychiatric pathology of schizophrenia found in 52 % of cases, while other studies stated mood disorders as the cause of more suicides.Suicide prevention consists of two phases, namely the improvement of patient management by identifying the individuals at risk and a better psychosocial rehabilitation to ensure better treatment compliance for tackling depression and the stigmatisation suffered by patients with a psychiatric illness. |
Keywords : mental pathology, suicide, patients monitored in hospital |
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