[Suicide attempts attended at a health centre]

To describe the characteristics of the suicide attempts attended in a health district over 10 years (June 1989 to December 1998).

Cross-sectional, descriptive study.

Primary care, rural health district.Patients. Everyone attended after a suicide attempt (55 cases).

Data of the following variables were obtained from the legal reports: sex, age, place of residence, prognosis, means used and year of attempt. 51% were women and 49% men. Average age was 34.07, SD 3.82. 96% occurred in the health district. 38% had light prognosis, 49% serious, 7% very serious and 4% uncertain. The means used was ingestion of drugs in 44% of cases. 72% of the attempts occurred in the last 5 years.

There were no differences between the sexes. Most of the patients were under 35. Drug overdose was the method of choice. Suicide attempts are on the up. Primary care authorities and doctors need to become more conscious of potentially suicidal conduct.