Socio-demographic Characteristics and Sleeping Habits of Children with Suicide Attempt Abstract

Abstract

Introduction:To compare the sleeping habits of children who attempt suicide with healthy children, to detect disorders, to identify children with risk factors and to take measures to prevent suicide attempts.Methods:Patients who applied to the Pediatric Emergency Service of University of Health Sciences Turkey, Ankara Training and Research Hospital between April 2019 and April 2020 with suicide attempt were included in the study group, and healthy children who had never attempted suicide before were included in the control group. It has been done prospectively and cross-sectionally. The data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 package program and Microsoft Office Excel 2003 program.Results:The total number of patients participating in our study was 248, 138 (55.6%) of whom had attempted suicide, 110 (44.4%) were from the control group who did not attempt suicide for any other reason. Of the patients in the group who attempted suicide, 102 (73.9%) were female, 36 (26.1%) were male, 67 (60.9%) of the patients in the control group were female, and 43 (39.1%) were male. The median age of the patients in the group who attempted suicide was 16 (minimum: 13, maximum: 18), and the median age of the patients in the control group was 16 (minimum: 12, maximum: 18). Social and physical problems were more common in the group who attempted suicide than in the control group (p=0.001, p=0.004). In the sleep habits questionnaire applied to the patients; the patients in the group who attempted suicide had more problems falling asleep, frequent waking up, and difficulty in waking up compared to the control group (p=0.001, p=0.047 p=0.003). In addition, daytime sleepiness, change in sleep time, listening to music before sleep, and playing with a mobile phone were higher in the group who attempted suicide compared to the control group (p=0.012, p=0.001 p=0.022, p=0.005). In addition, nightmares, sleepwalking, and snoring were more common in the group who attempted suicide (p=0.046).Conclusion:Suicide attempt is an increasing problem in adolescents, it should be ensured that the risk factors are determined well, the awareness of families and physicians is increased and preventive measures should be taken. It is very important to take sleep problems more seriously in this age group and to convey the importance of this to families.

Keywords

• suicide
• pediatric emergency
• sleep disorder