Suicídio e Espiritualidade: Bases teóricas

The relation between religiosity/spirituality (R/S) and health is a topic of great interest actually, especially regarding mental health. In fact, the beneficial effect of this association has been described with higher levels of well-being, reduction of drug use, lower rates of depression and anxiety, as well as being a protective factor specifically for suicidal behavior (SB). However the mechanisms that may explain these results have not yet been adequately clarified. Likewise, there are still many difficulties in transposing this knowledge into clinical practice, which is the biggest challenge related to this theme. Thus, in view of the relevance of the theme, this article aims to bring an update on the relation between R/S and SB, with an approach not only to the positive aspects, but also about the negative elements involved among them. To this end, we conducted a literature review with emphasis on articles published in the past two decades.A religiosidade/espiritualidade (R/E) é um tema de grande interesse na atualidade, principalmente no que concerne à sua relação com a saúde mental. De fato, o efeito benéfico dessa associação tem sido descrito com níveis de bem-estar maiores, redução do uso de drogas, menores taxas de depressão e ansiedade, além de se apresentar como um fator protetor ao comportamento suicida (CS). Contudo, os mecanismos que possam explicar esses resultados ainda não foram adequadamente esclarecidos. Da mesma forma, existem muitas dificuldades em transpor esse conhecimento para a prática clínica, sendo este um dos maiores desafios deste campo de pesquisa. Assim, diante da relevância deste tópico, este artigo objetiva fazer uma atualização sobre as conexões entre R/E e CS, visando discutir não só os aspectos positivos, mas também os possíveis elementos negativos envolvidos nessa relação. Para tal, foi realizada uma revisão da literatura com ênfase em artigos publicados nas últimas duas décadas

Suicide attempts in Brazil, 1998–2014: an ecological study

Abstract Background Attempted suicide is the main predictor of suicide constituting a major public health issue worldwide. It is estimated that for every completed suicide, 10 to 20 suicide attempts occur. Important part of the occurrences of suicide attempts in Brazil are registered in the hospital information system for coverage of more than 70 % allows to evaluate the extent of this problem in the country. The scope of this article is to analyse hospitalizations resulting from suicide attempts at public hospitals or services contracted out by the public health system (SUS) in Brazil from 1998 to 2014. Methods This is an ecological study of secondary morbidity data obtained from the Hospital Information System. The overall rate of suicide attempts per 100 000 (105) individuals and rates stratified by age group and sex were calculated. To measure trends, simple linear regression coefficients were calculated. The hospital mortality rate was calculated per 100 individuals. Results The overall rate of hospitalization decreased from 1998 to 2014. The young and adult age groups had the highest hospitalization rates. Men were admitted more and the elderly had higher hospital mortality rates. The main cause of hospitalization was poisoning, accounting for 70.4 % of hospitalizations. Among the people who used poisoning by non-medical drugs as the method of attempted suicide, 58 178 (69.6 %) were men and 49 585 people who are poisoned by medical drugs (60.1 %) were women. Conclusions Although hospitalization rates for attempted suicide have declined in Brazil, it remains a serious public health problem. Because a suicide attempt is the main predictor of suicide, studies to identify those most vulnerable to attempted suicide will help in the development of prevention strategies for mental health

Suicide attempts in bipolar I patients: impact of comorbid personality disorders

Objective: To evaluate the association between personality disorders (PDs) and suicide attempts (SAs) in euthymic patients with type I bipolar disorder (BD). Methods: One-hundred twenty patients with type I BD, with and without history of SA, were evaluated during euthymia. The assessment included a clinical and sociodemographic questionnaire, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, the Young Mania Rating Scale, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, and Structured Clinical Interviews for DSM-IV Axis I and II Disorders. Logistic regression was employed to determine associations between history of SA and patient characteristics. Results: History of SA was significantly associated with comorbid axis I disorder, rapid cycling, high impulsivity (attentional, motor, non-planning, and total), having any PD, and cluster B and C PDs. Only cluster B PDs, high attentional impulsivity, and lack of paid occupation remained significant after multivariate analysis. Conclusions: Cluster B PDs were significantly associated with SA in patients with type I BD. High attentional impulsivity and lack of gainful employment were also associated with SA, which suggests that some cluster B clinical and social characteristics may exacerbate suicidal behavior in this population. This finding offers alternatives for new therapeutic interventions

Comparative study of impulsiveness and risk behaviors among infected individuals with hepatitis C virus and human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1

Introduction and objectives: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infections have chronic courses. HCV is primarily transmitted via the hematogenous route, whereas HTLV-1 is primarily transmitted sexually, although it can also be transmitted by blood. Individuals chronically infected with either HTLV-1 or HCV can differ in terms of behavioral characteristics and personality traits. This study compared the occurrence of risk behaviors and impulsivity aspects between HCV and HTLV-1 carriers. Materials and methods: Observational, comparative and cross-sectional study that involved a sample of outpatients who had HCV or HLTV-1, by way of a sociodemographic and behavioral questionnaire and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale – BIS-11. 143 individuals with HCV and 113 individuals with HTLV-1 were evaluated. Results: There was a difference with regards to gender among patients, with mostly males affected in the HCV group. Risk behaviors commonly mediated by impulsiveness were significantly more frequent in the HCV group. Similarly, overall impulsiveness and domain nonplanning were higher in the HCV group. Multivariate analysis showed that increased age, male gender, higher nonplanning scores and HCV infection were independent factors for the occurrence of risk behaviors. Both groups presented high rates of other sexually transmitted diseases and a low rate of condom use in sexual relations. Conclusions: This study confirms the higher rate of risk behaviors and the levels of impulsiveness commonly observed in patients with HCV, along with comparisons to patients with HTLV-1

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data