Four-year survey of medically serious suicide attempters in Abu Dhabi

It is well established that attempting suicide significantly increases a person's risk of completing suicide. The risk is considered to be particularly high in the first year after the attempt. Epidemiological information on suicide is scarce in the Middle East and the countries of the GCC region and there is a need to establish a reference point to measure future changes.

We examined the epidemiology of suicide attempters requiring inpatient care in Abu Dhabi to identify associated factors that could aid local suicide prevention strategies.

This 4-year (2011-2014) study of suicide attempters in the city of Abu Dhabi included all attempters assessed by the consultation-liaison team and admitted to the 3 main governmental general hospitals.

We identified 364 suicide attempts with an annual incidence of 6 per 100 000 population. The mean age was 28.7 years. Females comprised 59.6% of the attempters and were more likely to be below age 30 years. Around 40% of the psychiatric diagnoses among attempters were related to stress and 17.9% to depression. Overdosing was the chosen method in 50.6% of the attempters, with 32.7% overdosing on paracetamol and females being more likely to use this method. Just over 13% of the attempters had made one previous attempt and 2.2% had made more than one.

Females younger than 30 years were at higher risk of attempting suicide, with overdosing on paracetamol as the preferred method. Stress-related diagnoses were predominant in the attempters.