Key Points

While the number of suicide deaths and hospitalizations for suicide attempts has been on a downward trend over the past decade, the situation in Nouvelle-Aquitaine remains worse than the national average, with mental health indicators having deteriorated during the COVID-19 health crisis.

• Emergency Department Activity: Significant Care for Suicidal Thoughts and Attempts

  • More than 9,000 annual visits to emergency departments for suicidal thoughts and attempts;

  • An increase in suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 health crisis, which intensified in 2021 and particularly affected young people aged 11 to 24;

  • A higher rate of emergency department visits for suicide attempts among young people aged 11 to 24, observed in 2020–2021 compared to 2017–2019, with a more pronounced increase among young women.

• Hospitalizations for suicide attempts: one of the highest rates in France

  • A hospitalization rate for suicide attempts that remains higher than the national rate (160.5 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021), which has been trending downward in recent years except among men, where the rate has remained stable;

  • Women continue to be more affected than men (63% of suicide attempts in 2017–2019), particularly young women aged 10–19, among whom the highest hospitalization rate for suicide attempts is observed;

  • A decrease in the number of hospitalizations for suicide attempts during the first lockdown (spring 2020);

  • A significant difference in the incidence of suicide attempts during the pandemic, depending on gender and age, with:

    • a higher proportion of suicide attempts observed among those aged 10–24 in 2021 compared to 2017–2019;

    • a slightly higher proportion of suicide attempts observed among men in 2020 compared to previous years.

• Suicide mortality: a number that remains high, particularly among men

  • A suicide death rate that remains higher than the national rate (16.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, or 943 suicide deaths in 2017);

  • Men continue to be disproportionately affected by suicide, with nearly four times as many suicides among men as among women;

  • Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death among young men, with over 20% of all-cause deaths among young men aged 20–29 being suicides;

  • An increasingly significant proportion of suicide deaths occur among men aged 40 to 60 (868 deaths, or 40% of suicide deaths in 2017–2019 in this population);

  • People aged 80 and older are particularly affected by suicide in Nouvelle-Aquitaine compared to mainland France;

  • A decrease in the number of suicide deaths observed in 2020, as in France.