Hospitalizations for children and adolescents of suicidal behaviors in Córdoba in the period 2009-2019

epidemiological characterization

Abstract

In the last decades there has been an increase in morbimortality due to suicidal behavior in children-adolescents and a worsening of the psychopathological disorders associated with them have been observed. The female gender has been related more to suicide attempts and the male gender to completed suicide. Objective: to characterize epidemiologically the children/adolescents hospitalized for suicidal behaviors in the period 2009-2019 at the Hospital de Niños of Córdoba, identifying psychopathological disorders.

Observational, retrospective study based on clinical records of children/adolescents hospitalized for suicidal behaviors in the period 2009-2019 at the Hospital de Niños of Córdoba. Sociodemographic (age, gender, origin, cohabitation group) and psychopathological variables were used. Data was processed by frequency analysis and chi-square test.

353 hospitalizations for suicidal behavior were recorded. 78% were female and 22% male. Their ages were between 6 and 16 years with a mean for females of 13.35 ±1.03 and for males of 12.18 ±2.23(p<0.001). 68.2% came from the city of Cordoba, 30.8% from the rest of the Province of Cordoba, and 1% other. The household group was single-parent family in 42.2%, nuclear in 31.3% and shelter in 3%. 45.9% were receiving psychotherapeutic treatment at the time of hospitalization. The most frequently diagnosed psychopathologies in the female gender were: personality problems 31.6% and neurotic and reactive disorders 26.5%; and in the male gender conduct disorders 39.5% and mood disorders 18.4% (p<0.0001). At discharge all received psychotherapeutic treatment and 56.4% required psychopharmacological treatment. The mean length of hospitalization was 14.26 days, with a minimum of 1 day and maximum of 120 days.

Most of the children-adolescents with suicidal behavior were not receiving treatment at the time of hospitalization and the most frequently detected pathologies were those of the impulsive-aggressive spectrum, showing psychopathological differences by gender. More timely prevention measures are required for these health problems.