Prevalence of risk factors among adolescents who attempted suicide: a cross-sectional study.
Danton Matheus de Souza, Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Treichel, Lucca Garcia Moreira Ribeiro and 2 others
PMID 39526924WHAT IT FOUND
Among 140 adolescents treated for suicide attempts, family conflicts, previous attempts, and self-harm were the most common risk factors.
Mental disorders were present in over half. These findings guide assessment priorities but do not prove that targeting these factors prevents future attempts.
Key findings
01Family conflicts, previous suicide attempts, and self-harm were the most prevalent risk factors identified in the medical records.
02Over half of the adolescents had a previous diagnosis of a mental disorder, and more than a third were currently using psychotropic medications.
03Specific risk factors clustered by demographic: younger adolescents (10-14) were more likely to report bullying and violence, while males were more likely to report substance use and grief.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study relied entirely on existing medical documentation, so risk factors not recorded by clinicians were missed, likely leading to underestimation. It was conducted at a single public teaching hospital in Brazil, which may limit generalizability to other settings or populations. The cross-sectional design identifies associations at one point in time but cannot determine causality or predict future attempts. No exclusion criteria were applied, but the reliance on coded records may have missed cases with ambiguous or unrecorded intent.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the high prevalence of specific risk factors as evidence that addressing them will prevent suicide. This is a retrospective chart review showing what was documented in patients who already attempted, not a study proving that these factors cause attempts or that interventions targeting them are effective.