Suicidal behaviour among youngsters in a suicide low- incidence population – a faroese paradox

Objective: /background: Faroe Islands is a country in North Atlantic with about 53,000 inhabitants. Suicide incidence is very low with an incidence of about 5/100,000/year. The Faroese school system participates in the ESPAD student surveys every fourth year, organized by the Department of Occupational Medicine and Public Health in Faroe Islands. The aim was to describe the epidemiology of suicide attempts and ideation among 9th-grade school youngsters in Faroe Islands and elucidate risk factors. Methods: : Data from the ESPAD surveys were obtained in cooperation with the ESPAD committee. We used data on suicide attempts and thoughts of self-harm, and risk factors of gender, smoking, and alcohol consumption. The SPSS program was used. Results: : Participants were about 16 years old 9th graders. Prevalence of youngsters with suicide attempts has been decreasing from 2003- 2015. Prevalence of suicide attempts was about the same as in other European countries. Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts were more related to girls. Daily smoking and large alcohol consumption were related to suicide attempts and suicide ideation. Conclusion: The number of suicide attempts was on a level with other European countries. There was a higher prevalence of students with thoughts of self-harm in the Faroes than in other European countries. We wondered how this could be in a low suicide-incidence population. The relation between suicide attempts and thoughts of self-harm on the one side, and daily smoking and alcohol consumption as risk factors on the other side was not unexpected.