Analysis of Patients with a Suicide Attempt Presenting to the Emergency Department of two Hospitals in Van, Turkey

INTRODUCTION: Suicide is a serious problem affecting public health all over the world. Suicide-related mortality and morbidities requiring lifetime care have economic, social and psychological repercussions. Considering that reasons for suicide vary by geography, we aimed to investigate the demographic characteristics of patients presenting to the emergency departments located in a province in eastern Turkey following a suicide attempt.
METHODS: After obtaining ethical approval, the records of two hospitals where the study was conducted were screened and 4,096 patients who had attempted suicide were identified using the international diagnostic codes X44, F19, T14.9, X80, Y24, W16, Y17, Y26, Y20 and Y85. Of these patients, 2,456 with incomplete records were excluded, and the data of the remaining 1,640 were analyzed with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test using SPSS.
RESULTS: Seventy percent of the patients included in the study were women, and 43.3% were married. The incidence of suicide showed a generally increasing trend over the years. The rate of suicide rate was higher in summer. Women most frequently attempted suicide due to family problems and men due to psychiatric reasons. The most commonly used method in both genders was the ingestion of drugs or toxic substances.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: We consider that after a detailed examination by psychologists in the emergency department, the rate of future admissions due to attempted suicide will decrease, especially through the solution of family problems and treatment of psychiatric conditions.