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Parasuicide in Rovigo (North of Italy) during the period 2000-2005
S Zanone Poma1, N Magno, S Belletti
1Department of Mental Health, Local Health Agency 18, Rovigo, Italy. stezanone@libero.it
Introduction:
The greatest predictor of eventual suicide is parasuicide, which includes both suicide attempts and deliberate self-harm with no intent to die. The rate of parasuicide is reckoned to be at least ten times the suicide rate.
Methods:
An observational study of the population of Rovigo Public Health Unit has been carried out to investigate parasuicide cases that presented to a general hospital in the six-year period from 1st January 2000 to 31st December 2005.
Results:
An incidence of 36.39 parasuicides/100,000/year referred to a general hospital has been estimated, with a majority of female and young subjects. The principal method used was drug poisoning (59.1%); the more frequent diagnoses are mood and personality disorders. Method of attempt distribution is different for age and gender (p < 0.001), while diagnosis distribution is different only for age (p < 0.001). Comparison between method of attempt and diagnosis distribution indicates a significant difference (p < 0.01). In 36.4% of cases there was no contact with the Mental Health Service after parasuicide.
Discussion:
The present study confirms that parasuicide is more common in females and younger people and that the more probable diagnoses are mood and personality disorders. The finding of a high number of subjects without any previous contact with the Mental Health Service and, especially, after parasuicide, claims attention on primary and secondary prevention of suicidal behaviour.
Conclusions:
The results appear to be in line with those from literature on parasuicide in Western populations.
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