Epidemiological Characteristics of Suicidal Patients Hospitalized at the Psychiatric Clinic of the University Clinical Hospital Mostar in the Period 2004-2013

Abstract

Introduction

Despite the evident progress of medicine and psychiatry in recent decades there is an increase in the number of suicide attempts in psychiatric patients in outpatient and hospital settings.

Aim

To determine the epidemiological characteristics of suicidal patients admitted at the Psychiatric Clinic of the University Clinical Hospital Mostar.

Subjects and Methods

We conducted a retrospective study in which we analyzed data from the medical history of 189 patients hospitalized after a suicide attempt at the Psychiatric Clinic of the University Clinical Hospital Mostar in the period from 2004 to 2013.

Results

Patients who attempted suicide were more often females (52.9%), unemployed (47.6%), with lower (31.7%) and intermediate level of education (52.4%), married (45.5%), without children (37.6%) and were more likely to come from urban areas (75.7%). Most of the subjects had already been in some kind of psychiatric treatment (65.1%) before. The most common method of attempting suicide was poisoning (54.0%) and when observed by gender it was significantly more frequent in females (p<0.001). Male subjects were significantly more frequently alcohol (p=0.001) and drug (p=0.001) abusers, and also more frequently were participants in the last Civil war (p<0.001) and wounded during it (p<0.001).

Conclusion

Suicide attempts are more common in unemployed subjects, subjects with intermediate level of education, subjects who come from urban areas and in subjects who had previously received psychiatric treatment. The most common way of suicide attempts is by poisoning which was statistically significant in female subjects.