The prevalence of suicide attempt in proportion of referrals to emergency departments in Karaj

World Health Organization has recognized suicide behaviors as one of the mental health problems in developed and developing countries. In order to increase the knowledge regarding suicide behaviors, WHO has developed a multi-site study across 8 countries. This paper reports the data from Iran.

Karaj was selected as a catchment area and all its emergency departments (EDs) were covered for 24 hours. The questionnaire, which was provided by WHO consisted of comprehensive data on personal, family, social, somatic, psychiatric and descriptive features of the individuals in catchment area was used.

During 10 months, 945 suicide attempters were referred to EDs (0.12% of the urban population in the same year). Age, education, marital status, employment, occupation and the method of attempt had significant relation with sex of the attempters (P<0.001). 0.2% of subjects died due to suicide attempt. At the time of discharge, only 5.5% of the subjects were referred to psychiatric or consultation services.

Single me and, married women with high school education and in age range of 15-25 are high risk groups and require specific prevention protocols.