Resumo

DENIS-RODRIGUEZ, Edmundo et al. Prevalence of Suicidal Ideation in Medical Students of Latin America: a Meta-analysis. RIDE. Rev. Iberoam. Investig. Desarro. Educ [online]. 2017, vol.8, n.15, pp.387-418. ISSN 2007-7467.  https://doi.org/10.23913/ride.v8i15.304.

Introduction.- Talking about suicidal behavior includes different stages an individual may present; usually begins with a suicidal thought, then a suicide plan and finally, the search for resources to commit suicide. It is important to note that the sequence of these phases is not a general rule; however, each of them puts the person at risk.

Objective.- To perform a review of the steps that have been taken to constitute suicidal ideation and consummated suicide in medical students. It is a documentary research of meta-analysis type.

Method.- The Meta Analysis is a structured and systematic integration of the information obtained in different studies, in this case based on suicidal ideation and suicide. This type of review gives a quantitative and synthetic estimate of all available studies. This review highlights the instruments used to measure this problem, such as the Beck Depression Inventory, Suicidal Guidance Inventory, the Catell Personality Scale, the Multimodal School Interaction Questionnaire, Zung Scale, among others.

Results. Suicide is a public health problem, responsible for more than 800,000 deaths annually worldwide and is the second leading cause of death in individuals between 15 and 29 years of age; this phenomenon has been studied in Latin America until recent years; based on studies found in Medline, Cochrane and Scielo databases, the average prevalence of suicidal ideation in Latin America is 13.85%, slightly below that observed in Europe and the United States. The average prevalence observed in Mexico is 8.76%, although this value is unreliable since it is the product of 3 studies in which the methodology used was different and in two of them medical Residents were included instead of undergraduate students.

Conclusions. Methodologically well-designed studies should be carried out to evaluate suicidal ideation in medical students, analyzing variables such as sex, school year, substance abuse, associated psychopathologies and other sociodemographic characteristics that allow us to explain why suicidal ideation could be higher in medical students, a fact that seems to be suggested by several studies conducted in the world, including heterogeneous populations.

Palavras-chave : Suicidal ideation; suicide; medical student.