Abstract

Objective: To describe the epidemiological characteristics of elderly individuals who attempted suicide by exogenous intoxication in the Central-West Region of Brazil between 2020 and 2024.

Method: A quantitative and retrospective epidemiological study on suicide attempts by exogenous intoxication in the elderly. Data were obtained from the Notifiable Diseases Information System, considering records of exogenous intoxication and their characteristics to obtain the profile. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: There were 798 cases of suicide attempts by exogenous intoxication among the elderly population during the analyzed period, with the highest number of records in 2023 (29.0%) and in the State of Goiás (43.0%). The majority of victims were female (62.1%), aged 60-69 years (68.0%), mixed-race (47.5%), and with low education levels (29.0%). Medications were the most common method of choice (63.3%), and 1.9% of cases resulted in death.

Conclusion: The findings may contribute to the formulation of specific interventions based on the identified profile, enhancing prevention strategies.

Keywords

intoxication, medications, epidemiology, elderly