Epidemiological investigation on the characteristic of 220 suicide attempters

Objective To understand the epidemiological characteristic of suicide attempters and to provide the scientific evidence for later prevention. Methods Seven departments of emergency or internal in the municipal and county hospitals in Shandong province were randomly selected. From Jan to Dec, 2003, 220 suicide attempters were investigated. Results The rate of residenting in rural area, youth, low education level, being married, low average monthly income per person and having affective conflicts were higher in the suicide attempters. The major method was using pesticide ( 89.7%). The percent of mild and severe depression among suicide attempters was nearly 60%. The percent of those with their interval time from considering to committing suicide being no more than 5 minutes was 29.9% while the percent of no more than 30 minutes was 61.7%. Conclusions Pesticide administration should be strengthened.