Prevalence of and risk factors for lifetime suicide attempts among Caribbean people in the French West Indies

Abstract

It has been suggested that Black people show lower suicidality than White people. The few conflicting studies estimating lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts in Caribbean populations were mainly carried out in the UK and the USA. Our aim was to investigate the prevalence of lifetime suicide attempts among the French Caribbean general population still living in the West Indies. As part of an international epidemiological multicenter study under the authority of the World Health Organization French Collaborating Centre, we interviewed 887 individuals selected from the general population in the Caribbean island of Martinique, using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Among the interviewed individuals, 4.4% (N=39) reported having attempted suicide. Younger age, lifetime diagnoses of major mood disorder, panic disorder and alcohol dependence were all associated with a lifetime history of suicide attempts. Lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts among the French Caribbean general population was almost half as much as that measured in continental France.