Irías Escher María José, López Castro Virna Julisa, Yup de León Pablo
Escuela de Ciencias Psicológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Grupo de Investigación en Neurociencias Aplicadas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Front Psychiatry. 2024 Nov 26;15:1489874. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1489874. eCollection 2024.
This study examines suicide among older adults in Honduras over a 15-year period (2008-2022).
Data were collected from the National Violence Observatory attached to the University Institute of Democracy, Peace and Security of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (ONV-IUDPAS-UNAH), and 593 suicide cases were analyzed with a quantitative approach of descriptive scope, to identify suicide decedent characteristics and patterns in the cases.
It was observed that 94.1% of the suicide decedents were male, with an average age of 70 years, predominantly from urban areas; the highest prevalence was in 2021 (7.77), generally in the mornings and mostly by hanging or asphyxiation in private spaces.
There is a significant difference in the prevalence of suicide by gender (16 males per female). Similar to worldwide reports, an increase in post-pandemic suicides is observed. The aging of the population and the increasing incidence of suicide in older adults gives relevance to this study, which has been limited by the lack of systematic data collection and previous research that would allow a better understanding of the problem and, in turn, the generation of public policies focused on the mental health of older adults.
本研究考察了洪都拉斯15年间（2008 - 2022年）老年人的自杀情况。
数据收集自洪都拉斯国立自治大学民主、和平与安全大学研究所附属的国家暴力观察站（ONV - IUDPAS - UNAH），并采用描述性范围的定量方法对593例自杀案例进行分析，以确定案例中自杀死者的特征和模式。
观察到94.1%的自杀死者为男性，平均年龄70岁，主要来自城市地区；2021年自杀率最高（7.77），通常发生在早晨，且大多在私人空间通过上吊或窒息方式自杀。
自杀率在性别上存在显著差异（男性与女性比例为16:1）。与全球报告类似，观察到疫情后自杀率有所上升。人口老龄化以及老年人自杀率的上升使本研究具有重要意义，此前该研究受到缺乏系统数据收集以及前期研究的限制，这些研究本可更好地理解该问题，进而制定关注老年人心理健康的公共政策。
