Medicina comunitaria y educación para la salud

Abstracto

Prevalence of Suicidal Thoughts among a Sample from Baghdad

Ameel Alshawi, Riyadh Lafta and Ahmed Al-Nuaimi

Background: The Iraqi people witnessed and are still witnessing the painful and terrible consequences of mass violence and military operations which are reflected on their general life condition. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of suicidal thoughts among a sample from Baghdad city and highlight some of the probably associated factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Baghdad city during the period from January 2013 through January 2014. A multistage sampling technique was adopted to choose 13 primary health care centres and eight colleges from three universities in Baghdad. The questionnaire included some demographic variables, history of alcohol drinking and of sedative, narcotic, and psychotic drug usage. Suicidal thoughts were measured via a modified item 9 of Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Results: Suicidal thoughts were reported in 155 (15.5%) of the participants, 4.2% reported alcohol drinking and 4.8% had a history of using sedative drugs. the prevalence of suicidal thoughts is higher among females (19.31%) compared to males (10.36%). Conclusions: suicidal thoughts are not uncommon in the Iraqi population as a consequence of the continuous and accelerating situation of violence that they are experiencing; these thoughts are strongly related to female gender (especially housewives), low level of education and drug usage.