Suicide attempt in rural area of Vietnam: follow up with regard to repeated attempt and completed suicide

Objectives: To follow-up individuals after the index attempt regarding repeated attempt, completed suicide, methods used and socio-demographic characteristics in rural area in Vietnam. Subjects and methods: All suicide attempt patients (104) during 2003 - 2007 were identified in a population.

ntact as mentioned above Completed suicide Six percent of our subjects were completed suicide during the follow-up and the majority of these during the first year after the index attempt This rate is higher than the figure given by Hawton and Fagg (1988) (1%) but lower than Isometsa and Lonnqvist’s report (10%) We thus confirmed that also in this Vietnamese population, the risk of completed suicide after the index attempt is considerable, as it has been noted in many Western studies Methods used in completed suicide were high lethal methods, including pesticides, hanging and drowning It is interesting to note that we found no cases of completed 63 JOURNAL OF MILITARY PHARMACO-MEDICINE N07-2016 suicide by pharmaceutical drugs, although several of those who reattempted suicide using pharmaceutical drugs It is possible that people who have an intention to die from the act used higher lethal methods and in that case it is “better” that pharmaceutical drugs are used in case of suicide attempt rather than pesticides From our study as well as many other previous findings, we thus confirmed that pesticides are still common and serious method of suicide in low and middle income countries In spite of small size of the study, it is noteworthy that none of those who completed suicide had been in contact with psychiatric care after the index attempt This gives further strength to the point raised in our previous paper [14] that access to and public acceptance of mental health care should be strengthened in Vietnam CONCLUSION The rate of re-attempted and completed suicide is increased among patients who have attempted suicide, also in Vietnam Drugs were the main method used in reattempt, whereas completed suicide mainly was performed by pesticides or hanging Mental health services should be strengthened to take care of and follow-up people who have attempted suicide Pesticides are still a public health problem in rural areas and should be better controlled REFERENCES Schmidtke A, Bille-Brahe U, DeLeo D, Kerkhof A, Bjerke T, Crepet P, et al Attempted suicide in Europe: rates, trends and sociodemographic characteristics of suicide attempters during the period 1989 - 1992 Results of the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Parasuicide Acta Psychiatr Scand 1996, May, 93 (5), pp.327-338 Cedereke M, Ojehagen A Prediction of repeated parasuicide after - 12 months Eur Psychiatry 2005, Mar, 20 (2), pp.101-109 Appleby L, Shaw J, Amos T, McDonnell R, Harris C, McCann K, et al Suicide within 12 months of contact with mental health services: national clinical survey BMJ 1999, May, 8, 318 (7193), pp.1235-1239 Beck AT, Kovacs M, Weissman A Assessment of suicidal intention: the Scale for Suicide Ideation J Consult Clin Psychol 1979, Apr, 47 (2), pp.343-352 Carter GL, Whyte IM, Ball K, Carter NT, Dawson AH, Carr VJ et al Repetition of deliberate self-poisoning in an Australian hospital-treated population Med J Aust 1999, Apr, 5, 170 (7), pp.307-311 Foster T, Gillespie K, McClelland R Mental disorders and suicide in Northern Ireland Br J Psychiatry 1997, May, 170, pp.447-452 Gilbody S, House A, Owens D The early repetition of deliberate self harm J R Coll Physicians Lond 1997, Mar-Apr, 31 (2), pp.171-172 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Hassanyeh F, O'Brien G, Holton AR, Hurren K, Watt L Repeat self-harm: an 18month follow-up Acta Psychiatr Scand 1989, Mar, 79 (3), pp.265-267 This study was funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) within the project of collaboration between Hanoi Medical University and Karolinska Institute Hawton K, Arensman E, Townsend E, Bremner S, Feldman E, Goldney R et al Deliberate self harm: systematic review of efficacy of psychosocial and pharmacological treatments in preventing repetition BMJ 1998, Aug, 15, 317 (7156), pp.441-447 64 JOURNAL OF MILITARY PHARMACO-MEDICINE N07-2016 10 Runeson B, Tidemalm D, Dahlin M, Lichtenstein P, Langstrom N Method of attempted suicide as predictor of subsequent successful suicide: national long term cohort study BMJ 341, c3222 11 Thanh HT, Jiang GX, Van TN, Minh DP, Rosling H, Wasserman D Attempted suicide in Hanoi, Vietnam Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2005, Jan, 40 (1), pp.64-71 12 Tran Thi Thanh H, Tran TN, Jiang GX, Leenaars A, Wasserman D Life time suicidal thoughts in an urban community in Hanoi, Vietnam BMC Public Health 2006, 6, p.76 13 Fleischmann A, Bertolote JM, De Leo D, Botega N, Phillips M, Sisask M et al Characteristics of attempted suicides seen in emergency-care settings of general hospitals in eight low-and middle-income countries Psychol Med 2005, Oct, 35 (10), pp.14671474 14 Nguyen VT, Dalman C, Le CT, Nguyen VT, Tran VN, Allebeck P Suicide attempt in a rural area of Vietnam: Incidence, methods used and access to mental health care International Journal of Mental Health System 2010 65 ... findings, we thus confirmed that pesticides are still common and serious method of suicide in low and middle income countries In spite of small size of the study, it is noteworthy that none of. .. were the main method used in reattempt, whereas completed suicide mainly was performed by pesticides or hanging Mental health services should be strengthened to take care of and follow- up people... CT, Nguyen VT, Tran VN, Allebeck P Suicide attempt in a rural area of Vietnam: Incidence, methods used and access to mental health care International Journal of Mental Health System 2010 65