Prevalencia, caracterización y métodos de suicidio registrados en la Fiscalía General del Estado de Cuenca, años 2017-2021

Abstract

Background: Suicide is the third leading cause of death in young people between 15 and 19 years of age; and has been increasing in recent years, which is why it is considered a public health problem. General objective: To determine the prevalence, characterization and methods of suicide registered in the General Prosecutor's Office of the State of Cuenca, years 2017-2021. Method: It is a quantitative, observational, descriptive, cross-sectional and retrospective study. It includes all the medical-legal reports of suicides registered in the Prosecutor's Office, during the period January 2017 to December 2021. The information was recorded in a data collection form prepared by the author. The analysis was performed using the statistical program SPSS version 15, where the qualitative and quantitative variables were recorded in frequencies and percentages and their graphic representation. This investigation was approved by the Bioethics Commission of the University, and had the authorization of the Prosecutor's Office. Results: The prevalence in 2017 was 6.9%, in 2018 it was 6.5%, subsequently increasing to 8.3% in 2020 and 9.7% in 2021. Men represent 73% of the suicide cases. The ages between 20-39 years constitute 49% of the cases. Single people were 62%. People with an education level up to high school were 51%. The most used method of suicide is hanging (81.5%). Suffering from some psychiatric illness is the most frequent pathological antecedent. Conclusions: The prevalence of suicide in Cuenca increased during the pandemic. Men, single and high school students are the characteristics with the highest frequency of suicide. The most used method of choice is hanging.