Suicidal attempts and obits in the district of Independência, Ceará State, Brazil

The objective of this work was to analyze the occurrence of suicidal attempts and deaths that happened in the district of Independência, Ceará State, Brazil, in 2005. A case study was carried out, including attempts and deaths by suicide. A data gathering source was composed out of the SIS (Mortality Information System) and of the SIH (Hospital Admittance System), regarding the year 2005, besides documentary research on district hospital records. Out of six recorded obits, two happened in the age group of 10 to 19, three from 20 to 29, and one from 30 to 59. One half of the suicide victims were male, and the prevailing method was hanging. Considering the attempts, most of them concentrated in the age group of 10 to 19, prevailing females (seven cases). The main signs and symptoms presented by victims, before exerting suicidal attempt were: sadness, loss of sleep, anorexia, nervousness, will to cry, and aggressiveness; there also was some kind of affective relationship among those persons. It was concluded that the events recorded in the district of Independência must be analyzed as a social fact, highlighting the small time interval between the deaths and attempts and, the existence of relational links among the victims.