Abstract

Attempted suicide is a rare but growing problem in the pediatric population. This sample includes all 46 patients that were admitted for attempted suicide to the pediatric wards of Concepcion General Hospital in a four-year period (October 95-September 99). The results were analyzed according to psychosocial aspects, psychiatric assessment and type of intervention, attempt features, and follow up. In the psychosocial issues the patients' ages ranged from 7 to 15 years old. They were mostly female (78.3%); 43.5% of our cases lived with both parents. Fifty percent reported some kind of domestic violence in their families, and 73.9% were in elementary or middle school. Psychiatric assessments were carried out on 89.1% of the cases during hospitalization; 34.8% had previous attempts and 41.3% met the criteria for depressive disorder. Most of the suicide attempts took place at the children's homes (60.9%), and drug ingestion was the most commonly used method (73.9%). Only 13.0% of the patients required intensive care hospitalization. The follow up study showed that 67.4% of the patients were refered to the child psychiatry outpatient program, but only 61.3% of them attended. The results are compared to other national and foreign studies to establish a profile of suicidal minors in order to design intervention strategies. © 2006 Sociedad de Neurolog Psiquiatry Neurocirugbr.