Key Points

• Emergency Department Activity:

  • Significant impact of the management of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts on overall emergency department activity in Occitanie: between 2017 and 2021, these reasons for seeking care resulted in between 7,400 and 8,000 emergency department visits per year, depending on the year (suicide attempts accounting for approximately 90% of visits over this entire period).

  • For suicidal ideation treated in emergency departments, the increase in the average annual number of visits between the 2017–2019 period and 2020–2021 affected all age groups overall, but the sharpest rise was observed among young people aged 11 to 24, at +59.3%. Among them, the increase was significantly greater among girls (+71%) than among boys (+40%).

  • For suicide attempts treated in emergency departments, the trend between the 2017–2019 and 2020–2021 periods was downward for those aged 25–64 and stable among those aged 65 and older, while a moderate increase in emergency department visits was observed among young people aged 11 to 24 (+12.4%). For this age group, the increase was relatively similar across both genders and both age groups (11–17 years and 18–24 years).

• Hospitalizations for suicide attempts:

  • Between 2017 and 2019, approximately 6,000 hospital stays related to suicide attempts (SA) were recorded each year among those aged 10 and older. The age-standardized regional hospitalization rate for SU was relatively stable from 2010 to 2019 (110 per 100,000 population in 2019) and increased in 2021 (120 per 100,000 population).

  • In 2021, the proportion of people aged 10 to 24 hospitalized for SU increased compared to 2020 (32.7% vs. 22.9% and 21.5% over the 2017–2019 period). The proportion of people aged 25 to 64 hospitalized for suicide attempts, however, decreased over this period (54.2% in 2021 vs. 63.1% in 2020 and vs. 64.7% in 2017–2019).

  • Between 2017 and 2019, 63% of hospital stays for suicide attempts involved women, and among women, the highest rate was found among those aged 10–19.

  • For most age groups, the hospitalization rate for suicide attempts was higher among women than among men, with the exception of those aged 80 and older. Drug overdose was the most common cause of hospitalization for suicide attempts among both women (89%) and men (76%).

• Suicide mortality:

  • In 2017, 710 suicide deaths were recorded, representing a mortality rate of 13.3 per 100,000 inhabitants.

  • While the trend has been relatively stable among women in recent years, the mortality rate among men has been declining since the 2000s, though it remained nearly three times higher than among women in 2017. The 20–29 and 30–39 age groups had the highest proportion of suicide deaths relative to overall mortality (16.2% and 15.2% of all-cause deaths, respectively). Women aged 30–39 accounted for the largest share of suicides (21%), while men aged 50–59 accounted for the largest share among men (21%).

  • It should be noted that the proportion of men aged 80 and older was significant and even higher than what was observed at the national level. Finally, the highest suicide death rate per 100,000 inhabitants was among those aged 75 and older.