Investigation of Clinical and Socio-demographic Characteristics of Suicide Cases Admitted to Emergency Department

OBJECTIVE: Suicide is a preventable cause of death. Good analysis of case data is essential for the prevention of suicide. The aim of this study is to investigatethe clinical and socio-demographic characteristics of suicide cases admitted to emergency department. MATERIALS and METHODS: This is a descriptive study performed retrospectively. The files, suicide forms and electronic records of patients who admitted to a public hospital emergency department between 1 January 2015 and 31 October 2018 due to suicide or attempted suicide were analyzed. RESULTS: Ninety-two of the 168 cases with appropriate records were analyzed. Women represented 65.2% of the suicide cases, 69.6% were aged 15-29, and 40% were students. The most common method of suicide was drug-toxic substance use (84.8%), and the most common reasons for suicide were family problems (26.1%) and mental illnesses (16.3%). No previous history of attempted suicide was present in 89.1% of cases, while 13% had a history of medication use due to psychiatric disease within the previous six months. CONCLUSION: Detailed analysis of cases must constitute the first step in suicide prevention. The quality of data obtained from hospitals’ electronic databases and patient records therefore needs to be increased.