Notifications, hospitalizations and deaths from self-harm in children in Brazil’s national health systems

Abstract

There are virtually no statistics on childhood suicidal behavior globally. This setting can be partly explained by the social representation of joy in this early phase of life. This paper aims to analyze information on self-harm reports, hospitalizations, and deaths among children aged 5-9 years in Brazil to know its magnitude and distribution from 2006 to 2017, based on data from national health information systems. The results show 58 deaths of Brazilian children with intentional self-harm, primarily male, white, and nine years old. Hanging was the most commonly used mechanism for children to kill themselves. A total of 1,994 hospitalizations were recorded for suicide attempts in children in the period 2006-2017, with a predominance of males in all regions. Regarding notifications, most refer to children between 8 and 9 years of age, black and female, emphasizing self-poisoning. Evidence that any suicidal behavior in childhood is strongly associated with attempted or completed suicide in adolescence and adulthood is one of the main indications of the need to prevent this behavior in the first decade of life.

Key words:
Child; Suicidal behavior; Suicide attempt; Suicide