Citation

Vatrál M, Trebatická J. Cesk. Pediatr. 2022; 77(3): 137-142.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Československá pediatrická spoločnosť, Publisher Prace Publishing)

DOI

10.55095/cspediatrie2022/016

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Suicidal behaviour in children and adolescents is a serious issue with growing prevalence. Death as a result of a completed suicide is one of the most common causes of death in young people ages 15 to 19. There are some known risk factors associated with activation of a suicidal process. These can be divided into three categories - biological, psychological and social risk factors. Depressive disorder in an important predictor of suicidal behaviour in children and adolescents, as well as personal history of previous suicide attempts, self-injurious behaviour, family conflicts, and traumatic experiences. Biological risk factors are also a subject of ongoing research, including the dysregula-tion of kynurenine pathway of tryptophan metabolism and the dysregulation of hypothalamic-pi-tuitary-adrenal axis. Suicidal behaviour in children and adolescents has also been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, which in a special way affected people worldwide. Researchers from the USA report a significant increase in emergency department visits of children and adolescents after suicide attempts. In Catalonia, Spain, there has been evidence of 25% increase in suicide attempts per year in adolescents ages 12 to 18 between the year before and the year during the pandemic. Both of these countries reported a more severe impact of the pandemic on suicidality in adolescent girls compared to boys - there has been no significant change in prevalence of suicide attempts in adolescent boys. © 2022, Czech Medical Association J.E. Purkyne. All rights reserved.

Language: sk

Keywords

children; adolescents; suicide; risk factors; self-harm; suicidality; suicidal behaviour; pedopsychiatry