Tedium vitae, death wishes, suicidal ideation and attempts in Kenya-prevalence and risk factors

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Bernhards Ogutu¹  Ray Omollo¹  Linnet Ongeri¹  Michael Ongecha²  Rachel Jenkins³  James Kingora Mboroki⁴  David Kiima⁵  Peter Sifuna⁶  Caleb Othieno⁷ 

[1] Centre for Clinical Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya;Centre for Global Health, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya;Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, London, UK;Kenya Medical Training Centre, Nairobi, Kenya;Kenya Ministry of Medical Services, Nairobi, Kenya;Kombewa Health and Demographic Surveillance System, Kombewa, Kenya;University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya;

关键词: Suicidal Ideation;    Suicide Attempt;    Psychotic Symptom;    Suicidal Thought;    Worth Living;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-015-2089-3

 received in 2015-02-21, accepted in 2015-07-24,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThere has been no previous household population study of suicidal ideation and attempts in Kenya. Therefore this study aimed to establish the prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempts in a rural population in Kenya, and to assess risk factors.MethodsAn epidemiological survey of a household population, using standardised structured interviews. We examined the prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts and the predictors of suicidal thoughts and attempts, using STATA to calculate unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios.ResultsA quarter of the sample (24.1 %) had thought that life was not worth living (tedium vitae) at some point in their lives, while a fifth had experienced death wishes at some stage. About 7.9 % reported suicidal thoughts and 1.9 % had made actual suicide attempts at some point in their lives. It can be seen that the prevalence of suicidal thoughts was 0.7 %, 4.2 %, 3.7 % and 7.9 % for last week, last year, at some other time, and lifetime respectively, while the prevalence of suicidal attempts was 0.5 %, 1.2 %, 0.7 and 1.9 % respectively.In the adjusted analysis of factors associated with suicidal thoughts, being female (OR 1.8, p = 0.017), having CMD (OR 2.7, p = 0.001), having a number of recent life events (OR 2.3, p = 0.001 for 2–3 life events and OR 2.6, p = 0.004 for 4 or more life events), and having a large social group size (OR 7.7, p = 0.006 for social group size of 4–8 and OR 9.1, p = 0.003 for social group size of 9 or more) were all associated with increased rates of life time suicidal thoughts, but psychotic symptoms were no longer significant after adjustment for the other variables. In the adjusted analysis of suicide attempts, having any psychotic symptoms (OR 5.1, p = 0.001) was the only factor associated with suicide attempts after adjustment for other factors significant at the bivariate level.ConclusionSuicidal ideation and attempts pose a significant public health burden in this poor rural area of Kenya. The findings are relevant for mental health promotion and prevention programmes, public education and professional training programmes in relevant sectors, especially in front line health workers and social workers.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Jenkins et al. 2015