Abstract

CASTRO-RUEDA, Vanessa Alexandra; RANGEL MARTINEZ-VILLALBA, Andrés Mauricio; CAMACHO, Paul Anthony  and  RUEDA-JAIMES, Germán Eduardo. Risk and Protective Factors in Colombian Suicidal Adults.. rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2010, vol.39, n.4, pp.705-715. ISSN 0034-7450.

Introduction: Suicide is a public health problem and is considered one of the top three causes of death in young population. Suicidality contributes to hospitalization and represents more than one third of the annual visits to psychiatric emergencies. Repeated suicide attempts are common and are associated with an increased risk of obtaining a fatal outcome, and also increase health care costs. Research is important to determine the best care in cases of attempted suicide. Objective: To determine the risk and protective factors for suicide attempts in a population of suicidal patients seen at the mental health services of a private clinic in Bucaramanga, Colombia. Methods: This is a case-control study. The cases were suicidal patients that attempted suicide and the controls were also suicidal patients but without suicide attempt. We performed a logistic regression analysis adjusting for confounding variables. Results: Risk factors for attempted suicide were alcohol consumption during the last year (OR=2.01; 1.30-3.11) and family or marital problems (OR=2.16; 1.31-3.55). Protective factors were age (OR=0.39; 0.22-0.69) and having children (OR=0.46; 0.29-0.73). Conclusions: The risk and protective factors for suicide attempts in suicidal patients in Bucaramanga were similar to those reported in the literature.

Keywords : Suicide; attempted suicide; adult; case-control studies.

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