title: The Epidemiology of Suicide Behaviors among the Countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region of WHO: a Systematic Review.
abstract: This systematic review aimed to help better to understand the epidemiology of suicidal behaviors among Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries. The PubMed, EMR medex, Scopus, PsychInfo, ISI, and IMEMR were searched with no language limitation for papers on the epidemiology of suicidal behaviors in the general population, published up to August 2013. A total of 13 articles were reviewed. The incidence (per 100.000) of committed suicide ranged from 0.55 to 5.4. The lifelong prevalence of attempted suicide, suicidal plan and thoughts were 0.72-4.2%, 6.2-6.7%, and 2.9-14.1%, respectively. The figures for suicide are higher than those officially reported. Suicide behaviors' statistics is susceptible to underestimation presumably due to the socio-cultural, religious and legal barriers, not to mention the lack of well-organized registries and methodologically sound community-based surveys.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Mental Health Research Centre, School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. kmalakouti@hnkh.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Seyed Kazem
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Malakouti
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Research Centre, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. kmalakouti@hnkh.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Farnoush
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Davoudi
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Regional office for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Unit, Regional Advisor, Washington, DC, United States of America. kmalakouti@hnkh.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khalid
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Research Centre, School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. kmalakouti@hnkh.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahmadzad Asl
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Aga Khan University, Pakistan. kmalakouti@hnkh.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Murad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moosa Khan
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Research Centre, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. kmalakouti@hnkh.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Narges
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alirezaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. kmalakouti@hnkh.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Arash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mirabzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Australian institute for Suicide Research and Prevention,National Centre of Excellence in Suicide prevention, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. kmalakouti@hnkh.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: DeLeo
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D019083:Mediterranean Region / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*