Seeking psychiatric emergency care by individuals who died by suicide in Fortaleza in 2022.

Abstract

Objectives: Suicide represents 1% of all deaths in the world. It's more prevalent in underdeveloped countries. Suicide mortality in Brazil has been growing in recent years. We Evaluated whether patients who committed suicide in Fortaleza sought the only psychiatric emergency service in the State before the act during the year 2022.

Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional study with data from electronic psychiatric emergency records and expert reports from the state forensic expertise service.

Results: 292 deaths were identified, which represents almost 2% of mortality in Fortaleza this year, 25% of which were female and 74.6% were male. Only 2.7% of individuals who committed suicide within this period requested a psychiatric emergency evaluation in the 3 months before the death. Among these individuals, 75% mentioned suicidal ideation. Furthermore, 70% of deaths were due to hanging.

Conclusions: The study found that the majority of patients who committed suicide in Fortaleza in 2022 did not seek the only psychiatric emergency service before the event, more studies are needed to investigate the causes of this behavior.