Severe suicide attempts in young adults: suicide intent is correlated with medical lethality

Abstract

Suicidal behavior is currently thought of as a continuum. Although there is a wide variety of such behavior, most of the information for the construction of epidemiological standards is still derived from statistics of death by suicide. However, the burden associated with suicide attempts represented 1.4% of the overall burden of diseases in 2002. It is estimated that this figure will reach 2.4% in 2020. Our study evaluated 121 patients who had been hospitalized because of medically severe suicide attempts, at Hospital das Clinicas of the Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Beck's Suicide Intent Scale (IS) was used for measuring the patient's intention of dying. The degree of lethality was evaluated on a six-point scale, based on the patient's clinical status and also on the procedures performed during hospitalization, clinical parameters, threat to life and the attending physician's impressions. The Spearman correlation test was used, for all patients and according to age groups, to evaluate the correlation between suicidal intent and lethality. There was a correlation between suicidal intent and lethality (correlation coefficient of 0.42; p = 0.04) within the 30 to 39-year-old group (38 individuals). Most of these patients were male (60%) and were married or living with someone (60%). 44% had a history of psychiatric treatment. Poisoning was the method most commonly used (88%) and 52% of the patients had the diagnostic hypothesis of affective disorder. Previous studies have shown a correlation between lethality and intent, based on the assumption that the individuals are aware of the lethal potential of their suicide attempt. In our study, we strictly evaluated severe suicide attempts, carefully measuring suicidal intent and lethality. We noted that, for at least one third of the patients, there was a correlation, albeit moderate, between the desire to die and the lethality of the method chosen for suicide. Therefore, the resulting injuries were severe and life-threatening. Some of the patients would probably have died, had they not been cared for in a hospital. In the future, would these patients be at higher risk of dying through suicide? If we take the scientific literature into account, the answer is yes.