Background:  Among psychiatric emergencies, suicide attempt is a frequent reason for consultation. The magnitude of this phenomenon is not only related to its increasing frequency or life-threatening, but also to the psychosocial consequences of suicidal gesture both on the patient and his entourage.
Objectives: The objectives of our study were to determine the prevalence of suicide attempts in psychiatric emergency department patients and to identify associated factors.
Materials  and  methods:  This  is  a  cross-sectional  study  carried  out  in  the  emergency department of Mahdia University  Hospital during a three  months  period, including consultants for whom a psychiatric opinion was solicited as a result of a suicide attempt. Regarding statistical analyzes, we studied associations between suicide attempt and sociodemographic, contextual, anamnestic and clinical variables.
Results:  Forty-four  suicidal  patients  were  included,  with  a  prevalence  of  0.5%  of  all emergencies. The patients mean age was 26.64 years with a female predominance (sex ratio = 0.29).  Self-induced intoxication was the most widely used method (93.2%). Reactional suicidal attempts accounted for 75%.  Many factors were significantly associated with suicide attempts: young age, female gender, secondar y level of education, students, presence of trigger factor, family and personal history of suicide attempt and the provenance of the examination request from a physician.
Conclusion:  This  study  highlights  a  particular  profile  of  patients  at  high  risk  of  suicide,  a codified action  is to begin,  including all  health care providers to prevent  its  occurrence.  This  primary  prevention  is  only  possible  through  the  identification of    risk  factors  associated  with  it.

Factors associated with suicide attempts