Suicide attempts in Morocco: A systematic review

Abstract

Background: Suicide is a widespread phenomenon that affects persons of all ages, and it has become a major public health problem in Morocco.

Objectives: This study aims to describe the epidemiological profile of suicide attempters in Morocco, as well as the identification of associated factors.

Methods: The present work is a systematic review that was conducted according to the recommendations of the "Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (2009)", including articles dealing with suicide attempts in Morocco that meet the usual inclusion criteria. The PubMed, ScienceDirect and Scopus databases were searched; articles had to be written in English or French. Additional studies were manually identified through via Google Scholar. Quality assessment of the included studies was carried out according to the NIH Assessment Tool. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020165493).

Results: Twenty studies were selected. Adults and adolescents are the age groups most affected by suicide. That said, the phenomenon mainly concerns children over 10 years of age. In some studies, more than 90% of the cases involve females, and they are more numerous in urban than in rural settings, and single individuals are more affected than married people. As for children and adolescents, most of them had divorced parents, and more than 50% of suicidal persons of all ages had a low socio-economic level. Although females are more likely than males to commit suicide, males are more exposed to death due to the violent means used.

Conclusions: Because of the alarming rate of suicide in our country, nationwide prevention strategies are called for.

Keywords: Associated factors; Attempts; Epidemiological profile; Maroc; Morocco; Suicide; facteurs associés; profil épidémiologique; tentatives.