Epidemiological behavior of attempted suicide in children and adolescents, Colombia 2016-2020

Abstract

Background: The suicide attempt is an event of interest in public health, under surveillance since 2016 in Colombia, and is characterized as a self-inflicted injurious behavior without a fatal outcome, which needs to be studied more widely in children and adolescents. Objective: To analyze the epidemiological behavior of attempted suicide in Colombia's children and adolescents from 2016 to 2020. Methods: Quantitative-descriptive ecological study. We analyzed 14 651 reports of infants and adolescents (6 to 17 years old) with attempted suicide in Colombia between 2016 and 2020. Results: The suicide attempt occurred more frequently in the population aged 15 to 17 years (n= 11 931; 81.4 %), from the subsidized regime (n=7 881; 53.8 %), from the municipal seat (n=11 624; 79.3 %); the most frequent vulnerability condition was disability (n=363; 43.5 %); the risk factors identified were being a woman (OR: 3.69; 95 % CI [3.83 – 3.88] and living in the municipal seat (OR: 1.48; 9 5% CI [1.42 – 1.54]. The prevalence of attempted suicide ranged between 0.004 % and 0.051 %; the attempted suicide rate ranges between 0.4 and 5.3 cases per 10 000 inhabitants. The departments with the highest number of reports are Antioquia (n=2 246; 15.3 %) and Valle del Cauca (n=1 449; 9.9 %). Conclusions: The suicide attempt in children and adolescents is characterized by the presence of unfavorable social determinants such as belonging to the subsidized regime, being a woman and living in the municipal seat, ethnic belonging, and being part of populations with conditions of vulnerability (being migrant, victim of violence, displaced person, among others); These characteristics require consideration in all strategies to prevent this phenomenon.