Abstract
Background Little is known about self-mutilation and suicide-related research in the Arab world.AimWe aim to quantify research activity related to suicide and self-mutilation, according to socio-economic factors, and assess inter-regional collaborations and trends of topics in the Arab world in the last 16 years.MethodsA search was conducted through the PubMed database to find articles related to suicide and self-mutilation, according to author affiliation in the 22 Arab countries between 2004 and 2019 (inclusive), and standardized according to mean population, suicide, and self-mutilation disability associated life years (DALY), and gross domestic product (GDP). VOS Viewer was used for keyword and organization co-occurrence analysis.ResultsOnly 0.61% of articles related to suicide and self-mutilation published between 2004 and 2019 were of Arab origin, compared to 1.76% in South America and 7.94% in Far East Asia. Suicide and self-mutilation articles make up 0.09% of the total publications in the Arab region. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon had the highest number of published articles related to suicide and self-mutilation. When comparing publications per million persons, Lebanon and Kuwait ranked first with 5.15 and 3.40 publications per million persons. Lebanon showed the highest number of publications per USD billion GDP, with 0.75 publications. The highest number of publications per 1% self-injury-related DALY was recorded in Saudi Arabia, with 46.97 publications. In recent years, VOS Viewer revealed poor inter-regional collaborations and a modest but increasing trend towards depression, poisoning, and cross-sectional studies.ConclusionDespite increasing publications, the region still lags in terms of suicide and self-mutilation research activity. A pan-Arab strategy should be implemented to refine suicide-related research and increase mental health awareness.
Highlights
It is estimated that 800,000 people commit suicide every year
0.61% of articles related to suicide and self-mutilation published between 2004 and 2019 were of Arab origin, compared to 1.76% in South America and 7.94% in Far East Asia
Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon had the highest number of published articles related to suicide and self-mutilation
Summary
It is estimated that 800,000 people commit suicide every year. To put it into perspective, there is one case of suicide every 40 seconds. According to World Health Organization (WHO), suicide ranks the 18th leading cause of death [1]. Methods of suicide range in lethality; people can be categorized into attempters and completers [6]. Suicide completers use lethal techniques, hanging the most common method, whereas suicide attempters commonly use drug poisoning and stabbing; these methods are non-lethal in 70% of cases [6]. Little is known about self-mutilation and suicide-related research in the Arab world
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