[Prevalence rate of suicidal thoughts and its related factors in the medical students in Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences]

ABSTRACT

Suicide is the third most common cause of death between 15 and 44 years of age. Medical students are one of the high risk groups. Suicidal ideation is regarded as a predictive factor for suicide attempt. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence rate of suicidal thoughts and its related factors among the students of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences. In this descriptive - analytical study, 452 students with different fields of study in medical sciences were selected randomly. Using Beck Inventory [BSSI] the rate of suicidal thoughts was determined. Data were entered into SPSS V.16 software and analyzed by x[2] and logistic regression. p <0.05 was considered significant. In this study 34.3 percent of the students were male and 65.7 percent were female, with a mean age of 21.16 +/- 2.41 years. 32.7 percent of all students and 42.7percent of medical students had mild to severe suicidal thoughts. A significant relationship was observed among academic fields, residential area, performance of religious obligations, history of suicide attempts and current suicidal thoughts [p<0.01]. This study indicated a high prevalence rate of suicidal thoughts among the university students which calls for more attention by the university officials in order to take necessary measures for prevention of suicidal attempts among the students