[Epidemiology and chronorhythmicity of recurrences of attempted suicide]

The authors examine cases of attempted suicide admitted to Hospital of Foggia from 1 January 1990 to 31 December 1996. They describe characteristics of repeaters. A total of 611 episodes of attempted suicide regarding 552 different subjects were observed during the study period. Women attempted suicide more than men. No significant difference was observed for age and repeaters between men and women; while women outnumbered men in cases of single episode. Attempted suicide showed a circadian rhythm for both in first-event cases and repeaters; against, circaseptan and circannual periodicity were not present in both groups. Women had a greatest risk of an other repetition after a free period from events, in fact the time between the first and the latest episode was greater for women than for men. Commonly, the repeaters attempted at suicide again making use of the same method used for the first episode.