Factores de riesgo del suicidio en el suroccidente colombiano (Valle del Cauca, Cauca y Nariño) antes (2018-2019) y durante la pandemia (2020-2021)

Abstract

IntroductionSuicide is a global phenomenon and a serious public health problem; it is defined as the act in which a person deliberately causes his or her own death and depends on multiple factors, including socioeconomic, geographic, cultural, and social factors. Due to the multi-causality of suicide, studies on risk factors are of great importance. MethodRetrospective descriptive quantitative research, from primary source data delivered by the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. This descriptive study was conducted to characterize suicide in southwestern Colombia (Valle del Cauca, Cauca and Nariño) before (2018-2019) and during the pandemic (2020-2021), and associated risk factors were also determined from the results obtained. ResultsOne thousand fivehundred and six suicides were recorded during the 4years studied in the departments of the southwestern Colombian region (Valle del Cauca, Cauca and Nariño) with more cases in the pre-pandemic period (2018-2019); the year, month and day of highest prevalence was 2018, December and Sunday respectively, in individuals of the male sex, of adult age (18-65 years), single, with a level of education of primary/secondary complete/incomplete, using hanging as the cause of the fact, and being conflict with partner or ex-partner the most frequent reason.The associated risk factors were the day of the week, academic level and the reason for the act. Prevalences ranged between 4.6 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018 and 5.6 in 2021 specifically for the department of Cauca, the highest overall rate was found in 2018 with 5.3 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants and the lowest was 4.4 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants for 2020. ConclusionsSuicide is a public health problem that occurs in all age groups; its highest prevalence in southwestern Colombia is in the adult population and in the group of adolescents with a low level of education. It is necessary to implement health promotion and prevention programs, supported by intersectoral and regional work according to risk factors, in order to contribute to improving the quality of life of the population.