Parasuicide in Rovigo (North of Italy) during the period 2000-2005.

INTRODUCTION The greatest predictor of eventual suicide is parasuicide, which includes both suicide attempts and deliberate self-harm with no intent to die. The rate of parasuicide is reckoned to be at least ten times the suicide rate. METHODS An observational study of the population of Rovigo Public Health Unit has been carried out to investigate parasuicide cases that presented to a general hospital in the six-year period from 1st January 2000 to 31st December 2005. RESULTS An incidence of 36.39 parasuicides/100,000/year referred to a general hospital has been estimated, with a majority of female and young subjects. The principal method used was drug poisoning (59.1%); the more frequent diagnoses are mood and personality disorders. Method of attempt distribution is different for age and gender (p < 0.001), while diagnosis distribution is different only for age (p < 0.001). Comparison between method of attempt and diagnosis distribution indicates a significant difference (p < 0.01). In 36.4% of cases there was no contact with the Mental Health Service after parasuicide. DISCUSSION The present study confirms that parasuicide is more common in females and younger people and that the more probable diagnoses are mood and personality disorders. The finding of a high number of subjects without any previous contact with the Mental Health Service and, especially, after parasuicide, claims attention on primary and secondary prevention of suicidal behaviour. CONCLUSIONS The results appear to be in line with those from literature on parasuicide in Western populations.