It is in July when more people take their lives; in 2021, there were 400 deaths that month. Galicia, Asturias and a large part of Castilla y León, Aragón and Catalunya, the areas with the highest suicide rates.
From not talking about suicide to occupying dozens of pages in newspapers. Mental health has become a social problem after the pandemic, although that reality has been there for years, a reality that not only ends with a life full of suffering but also leaves between 15 and 20 people around them completely devastated. In 2021, 4,003 people died from this cause, almost triple the number in traffic accidents. But what is the profile of the suicide? Is the suicide rate higher in urban or rural areas? Are there certain months in which more people commit suicide? Are these people being helped?
Researchers from the Complutense University of Madrid, the Mental Health Network Biomedical Research Center (Cibersam) and the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, who yesterday presented the report on the evolution of suicide in Spain since 2000, respond to some of these responses. -2021, with special interest in the role played by the covid pandemic.
According to the data collected, suicide rates have not stopped growing since the 2008-2014 crisis and especially since 2018 (before the pandemic). In the year 2021, the latest data available (the INE made a preview of the first semester of 2022), eleven people died by suicide every day, which represents 6.6% more than in 2018, something that was clearly influenced by the pandemic.
Who were they? The vast majority (three out of four) were men, and half of those who died were between the ages of 40 and 65. This age group is followed by those over 65 (31%) and young adults (13.8%). Adolescents (between 10 and 24 years old) represent 5% of those killed by suicide.
More than 87% are Spanish, although there has been a growing trend in deaths by suicide among immigrants, especially during the pandemic (they rose by almost 24%). “It is the group most affected in those hard months of 2020,” say the researchers (Alejandro de la Torre, principal investigator of the Research Group in Psychiatric Epidemiology and Mental Health at the Complutense University of Madrid; Víctor Pérez, director of the Institute of Neuropsychiatry and Addictions of the Hospital del Mar (INAD), and José Luis Ayuso, professor of Psychiatry and director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Mental Health Services at the Autonomous University of Madrid).
Regarding the place of residence of the deceased, 32% lived in provincial capitals. Almost a quarter of the deceased lived in rural areas (municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants) or urban municipalities with between 10,001 and 50,000 inhabitants (24.6% and 24.7%, respectively). The rest lived in large cities (more than 50,000 inhabitants, not the provincial capital).
Regarding the temporal and spatial distribution of suicide in Spain in 2021, it can be seen that in practically every month (except January and August) there are a greater number of deaths in 2021 than in 2019 and 2020. Likewise, it is The same seasonal pattern is observed as in other years: a clear increase in suicide mortality in the summer months. In fact, July is the month in which there is a greater number of deaths by suicide in 2021, exceeding 400.
With regard to geographic distribution, the highest rates of mortality from suicide (rates greater than 10 per 10,000 inhabitants) are registered in Galicia (all provinces), Asturias, Castilla y León (Zamora, León, Palencia, Burgos and Ávila), Aragón (Teruel and Huesca), Catalonia (Girona and Tarragona) and Andalusia (Córdoba, Jaén, Málaga and Granada). Those that least are Madrid and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla: the only explanation given for this circumstance is that there is a younger population in these.
And with all this, what to do? The researchers are clear. A national strategy against suicide is urgently needed, with resources that allow immediate attention to people with suicidal ideas and that has the support of society. Celeste Lopez