Suicide attempts in the adult Mexican population: an analysis of sociodemographic characteristics and associated factors

Davila-Cervantes, Claudio Alberto; Luna-Contreras, Marisol

doi:10.1590/1980-549720240014

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Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia

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Original Article • Rev. bras. Epidemiol. 27 • 2024 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-549720240014 copy

Suicide attempts in the adult Mexican population: an analysis of sociodemographic characteristics and associated factors

Tentativas de suicídio na população adulta mexicana: uma análise de fatores sociodemográficos e associados

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Objective:

Suicide is the culmination of a process or continuum known as suicidal behavior that proceeds from ideation and planning to attempt. The objective was to estimate the prevalence of suicide attempts in the adult Mexican population and to analyze their main associated factors.

Methods:

We conducted an observational, cross-sectional, and descriptive study with information from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (2018). Self-reported lifetime suicide attempt was used in the analysis. We analyzed depression, obesity, tobacco smoking, and alcohol consumption as suicide attempt-associated factors using a multivariate logistic regression model.

Results:

The prevalence of adult suicide attempt was 2.0% (95%CI 1.8–2.2) and it was higher among women (2.4%; 95%CI 2.2–2.8) and young people (2.9%; 95%CI 2.4–3.4). Low education (OR=1.6; 95%CI 1.2–2.2), being single (OR=1.3; 95%CI 1.0–1.6), having obesity (OR=1.4; 95%CI 1.1–1.8), consumption of alcohol (OR=2.4; 95%CI 1.7–3.4) or tobacco smoking (OR=1.8; 95%CI 1.4–2.4), and having strong symptoms of depression (OR=10.1; 95%CI 6.2–16.3) were associated with a higher prevalence of suicide attempts.

Conclusion:

These results help better understand suicidal behavior in Mexico and identify the factors that increase the likelihood of suicide attempts, which is essential to help reduce suicide mortality. This research is crucial for developing early interventions and prevention programs aimed at reducing suicide's public health burden.

Keywords:
Suicide; Suicide attempt; Mexico; Associated factors; Adults

Characteristics	Variables	Operationalization	Observations
Sociodemographic	Sex	0: Females	Based on self-reported at the time of the survey
	Sex	1: Males	Based on self-reported at the time of the survey
	Age (years)	0: 20–29	Based on self-reported at the time of the survey
		1: 30–39
		2: 40–49
		3: 50 or more
	Education	Never attended school or incomplete elementary school	Based on self-reported educational stage and grade at the time of the survey
		0: Never attended school or incomplete elementary school
		1: Completed elementary school
		2: Completed middle school
		3: Completed high school or higher
	Marital status	0: Single	Based on self-reported at the time of the survey
	Marital status	1: Married or cohabiting	Based on self-reported at the time of the survey
Associated factors	Obesity	0: No	Based on the answer to the question "Have a doctor/dietician/nutritionist ever told you that you have had or currently have obesity?"
	Obesity	1: Yes
	Tobacco smoking	0: No	Based on the answer to the question "Have you smoked at least 100 cigarettes (5 packs) of tobacco in your entire life?"
	Tobacco smoking	1: Yes
	Alcohol consumption	0: Have never consumed	Based on self-reported consumption in the last month
		1: Do not consume
		2: Do consume
	Depression symptoms	0: Without symptoms	Based on the responses from the depressive symptoms module of the survey.
		1: Mild or moderate symptoms
		3: Strong symptoms

Characteristics		n	%	95%CI
Sex
	Males	19,122	45.4	(44.7–46.1)
	Females	23,147	54.6	(53.9–55.4)
Age (years)
	20–29	8,686	23.6	(22.9–24.2)
	30–39	9,543	21.0	(20.4–21.6)
	40–49	8,723	20.0	(19.5–20.6)
	50 or more	15,317	35.4	(34.7–36.2)
Education
	Never attended school or incomplete elementary school	7,998	16.9	(16.3–17.4)
	Completed elementary school	7,447	17.6	(17.0–18.1)
	Completed middle school	12,613	29.1	(28.4–29.8)
	Completed high school or higher	14,211	36.5	(35.7–37.3)
Marital status
	Single	16,134	36.1	(35.4–36.8)
	Married or cohabiting	26,135	63.9	(63.2–64.6)
Obesity
	No	32,374	77.2	(76.5–77.8)
	Yes	9,895	22.9	(22.2–23.5)
Tobacco smoking
	No	30,278	71.8	(71.1–72.5)
	Yes	11,991	28.2	(27.5–28.9)
Alcohol consumption
	Have never consumed	14,767	36.6	(35.9–37.4)
	Do not consume	17,168	40.4	(39.6–41.2)
	Do consume	10,334	23.0	(22.3–23.6)
Depression symptoms
	Without symptoms	18,272	44.9	(44.1–45.7)
	Mild or moderate symptoms	16,609	38.8	(38.1–39.6)
	Strong symptoms	7,388	16.3	(15.7–16.8)

Characteristics		n	%	95%CI
Sex^* * Significance of the χ2 independence test: p-value<0.05
	Males	290	1.4	(1.1– 1.6)
	Females	605	2.4	(2.2–2.8)
Age (years)^† † p-value<0.0001
	20–29	267	2.9	(2.4–3.4)
	30–39	214	1.9	(1.6–2.3)
	40–49	195	2.0	(1.6–2.5)
	50 or above	219	1.3	(1.1–1.6)
Education^‡ ‡ p-value<0.01.
	Never attended school or incomplete elementary school	145	1.6	(1.3–2.1)
	Completed elementary school	184	2.2	(1.8–2.6)
	Completed middle school	318	2.5	(2.1–3.0)
	Completed high school or higher	248	1.6	(1.3–1.9)
Marital status^† † p-value<0.0001
	Single	455	2.5	(2.1–2.8)
	Married or cohabiting	440	1.7	(1.4–1.9)
Obesity^† † p-value<0.0001
	No	602	1.7	(1.5–1.9)
	Yes	293	2.9	(2.4–3.4)
Tobacco smoking^† † p-value<0.0001
	No	523	1.6	(1.4–1.8)
	Yes	371	2.9	(2.5–3.3)
Alcohol consumption^† † p-value<0.0001
	Have never consumed	204	1.2	(1.0–1.5)
	Do not consume	414	2.2	(1.9–2.5)
	Do consume	264	2.7	(2.2–3.3)
Depression symptoms^† † p-value<0.0001
	Without symptoms	143	0.8	(0.6–1.0)
	Mild or moderate symptoms	311	1.7	(1.4–2.0)
	Strong symptoms	441	5.8	(5.1–6.7)

Characteristics		OR	95%CI
Sex
	Males^* * Reference category
	Females	3.6^† † p-value<0.000	(2.1–6.1)
Age (years)
	20–29	2.8^† † p-value<0.000	(1.9–4.0)
	30–39	1.7^‡ ‡ p-value<0.01	(1.2–2.4)
	40–49	1.7^† † p-value<0.000	(1.2–2.5)
	50 or above†
Education
	Never attended school or incomplete elementary school	1.4	(0.9–2.1)
	Completed elementary school	1.6^† † p-value<0.000	(1.2–2.2)
	Completed middle school	1.6^† † p-value<0.000	(1.2–2.1)
	Completed high school or higher^* * Reference category
Marital status
	Single	1.3^§ § p-value<0.05.	(1–1.6)
	Married or cohabiting^* * Reference category
Obesity
	No^* * Reference category
	Yes	1.4^‡ ‡ p-value<0.01	(1.1–1.8)
Tobacco smoking
	No^* * Reference category
	Yes	1.8^† † p-value<0.000	(1.4–2.4)
Alcohol consumption
	Have never consumed^* * Reference category
	Do not consume	1.9^† † p-value<0.000	(1.5–2.6)
	Do consume	2.4^† † p-value<0.000	(1.7–3.4)
Depression symptoms
	Without symptoms^* * Reference category
	Mild or moderate symptoms	2.9^† † p-value<0.000	(1.8–4.7)
	Strong symptoms	10.1^† † p-value<0.000	(6.2–16.3)
Sex and depression symptoms
	Male without symptoms^* * Reference category
	Female with mild or moderate symptoms	0.51^§ § p-value<0.05.	(0.3–1)
	Female with strong symptoms	0.54^§ § p-value<0.05.	(0.3–1)

Characteristics			Probability (%)	Marginal effect (%)
Sex		Males	0.6^* * p-value<0.0001
Sex		Females	1.6^* * p-value<0.0001	1.0^* * p-value<0.0001
Depression symptoms		Without symptoms	0.6^* * p-value<0.0001
		Mild or moderate symptoms	1.2^* * p-value<0.0001	0.6^* * p-value<0.0001
		Strong symptoms	4.2^* * p-value<0.0001	3.6^* * p-value<0.0001
Sex and depression symptoms
	Without symptoms	Males^† † Reference category	0.3^* * p-value<0.0001
	Without symptoms	Females	1.1^* * p-value<0.0001	0.8^* * p-value<0.0001
	Mild or moderate symptoms	Males^† † Reference category	1.1^* * p-value<0.0001
	Mild or moderate symptoms	Females	1.6^* * p-value<0.0001	0.7^‡ ‡ p-value<0.01.
	Strong symptoms	Males^† † Reference category	2.9^* * p-value<0.0001
	Strong symptoms	Females	5.6^* * p-value<0.0001	2.7^* * p-value<0.0001

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[1] CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Marisol Luna-Contreras. Carretera al Ajusco 377, Colonia Héroes de Padierna, C.P. 14200, Tlalpan, Ciudad de México, México. E-mail: msluna@flacso.edu.mx