Introduction:

The suicide attempt in children and young populations is a serious health problem in Cuba and the world.

Objective:

To characterize sociodemographic and epidemiologically the patients aged 6 and 18 with suicide attempt.

Methods:

An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study of 145 children and adolescents was carried out, who were admitted to Dr. Antonio María Beguez César Southern Children Teaching Hospital in Santiago de Cuba due to suicide attempt, during 2018. Each patient's individual medical records constituted the source of information and demographic and epidemiologic variables were selected.

Results:

The females showed the highest risk of suicide attempt (27.9 for each 10 000); likewise, the 15 to 18 age group (64.8%) and the psychoactive drug ingestion (84.1%) as a method to try to kill oneself, because it was easily accessible, prevailed. Family conflicts (60.6%) and the lack of family support (46.2%) were notable among the main factors associated with suicidal behavior.

Conclusions:

Children and adolescents in this series came from families with conflicts and domestic violence, which, along with the lack of the family support, identified in their environment, could have influenced the suicide attempt.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )