Factores de riesgo en la conducta suicida en población militar a nivel mundial en el periodo 2010 - 2020: una revisión de alcance

Abstract

Introduction: Suicide is a worldwide problematic that crosses the barriers of gender, socioeconomic and professional status. Its origin is multifactorial and is conditioned to develop with diverse variables. Among the most affected professions are military personnel due to the high loads of stress they handle, and the great exposure they have to stimuli that generate tolerance to pain and the idea of dying. Since 2005, the incidence of suicide in the military has increased exponentially compared to the general population, which makes it necessary to identify risk and protective factors that may play a role in the development of suicidal behaviors such as: suicidal ideation, suicidal planning, and fatal and non-fatal attempts. Objective: To identify risk factors associated with suicidal conducts in military population through evidence published in the last 10 years. Methods: A scoping review was conducted consisting in the analysis of original primary studies and systematic reviews of the PubMed, LILACS, Scopus, SAGE Journals and EBSCOhost MedicLatina databases in English and Spanish from 2010 to 2020. The variables considered in the Selection of studies were occupation (military), main topic (study and / or characterization of risk factors for suicide and suicidal behaviors) and year of publication (between 2010 and 2020). 729 articles were initially identified in the different databases. Results: 65 articles were selected for full-read analysis. Through the selected studies, a positive association was found with gender, race, age, educational level, marital status, little experience in the military profession, having a greater exposure to combat, easy access to lethal weapons, the perception of the importance of the tasks carried out within the institution, the level of violence witnessed, having been a victim of some type of physical or psychological violence, the perception of support from both coworkers, family and public opinion; as well as psychiatric illnesses such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and non-fatal self-inflicted injuries. Conclusions: Military personnel is a population at high risk of death by suicide given the daily experiences of their work activity, and the impact they represent in the psychosocial sphere. It is very important to carry out an active search for personnel with risk factors for suicidal behavior prior to incorporation, as well as to carry out follow-up through epidemiological surveillance programs to carry out a preventive intervention.