Prevalencia del Suicidio en la Región de Tarapacá, a?os 1990-2008

摘要

We carried out an epidemiological descriptive study of suicidal type deaths in Tarapacá, Chile, between 1990 and 2008, collecting interesting information aboutthe behavior of this phenomenon in an extreme zone, with indicators of a complex social adjustment and difficulties in individual integration. In a whole of 432 cases, for example, the rate of suicide changed from 6.11 for 100.000 hab. in 1990 to 13.32 for 100.000 hab. in 2008; we observe that the suicide was more frequent in ages between 20 to 44 years, especially in men with a nearby proportion of 6:1, being the mechanism most used in both sexes, the hanging. Another interesting point constitutes the fact that the rate of suicide from 1996 doubled in relation to previous years, exceeding the rates of other regions of the country, the national rate and the rate of many American countries and even some European countries, being constituted in the second cause of violent death in our province, which makes us think about the complex phenomenon biopsicosocial involved in the genesis of the suicide.