Introduction:

Suicidal behavior includes the suicide attempt and completed suicide. In Cuba it ranks tenth among the leading causes of death and third among adolescents according to the mortality record.

Objective:

To characterize the suicidal behavior in young people and adults from Mayabeque province in 2018 and 2019.

Methods:

A descriptive and cross-sectional study. The universe of study comprised all the morbidity cases for suicide attempt registered in the notifiable disease cards and the mortality cases for completed suicide registered in Provincial Health Department database in Mayabeque in 2018 and 2019. Among the variables studied were age, sex, suicide methods, and municipality of residence. Crude and cause-specific mortality rates were calculated per 100 000 population by sex and woman/man ratio. Variables were expressed as percentage.

Results:

A total of 711 suicide attempts were reported. Female sex accounted for 475 (66.8%) cases. Overall, the suicide attempt/completed suicide ratio was of 6.8 in 2018 and 7.7 in 2019. A total of 101 completed suicides were reported. There were 81 cases (80.2%) among male sex. Hanging was the most common suicide method in 72 cases (71.2 %).

Conclusions:

Suicide attempts are more frequent among women while completed suicide is more frequent among men. It is necessary to identify the risk factors associated to suicidal behavior for their prevention.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )