Parc Taulí promotes a driving group for suicide prevention research in Catalonia

• EThe number of cases of death by suicide has grown progressively since 2017, reaching a record figure in 2022: 614 Catalans took their own lives, 7% more than in 2021

• Under the coordination of Diego Palao, head of the mental health and neuroscience research area of ​​the I3PT and director of Mental Health of the Parc Taulí, the group promotes and integrates interdisciplinary research related to suicidal behavior and its prevention

Often invisible and surrounded by stigmas and taboos, the suicide is a public health problem hard on a global scale. According to data from the Institute of Statistics of Catalonia (IDESCAT), the number of cases of death by suicide has grown progressively since 2017, reaching one record figure in 2022: 614 Catalans took their own lives, 7% more than in 2021. This figure, which is equivalent to 9,2 per 100.000 inhabitants, represents a rate not described since 2013.

Although the causes behind a suicide are multifactorial and therefore the pandemic cannot be attributed a direct effect on the increase in cases, one of the already visible consequences of the health crisis of the COVID-19 is that it has shaken the mental health, especially that of the young population, among whom the suicide is already the first cause of unnatural mortality in the country.

In this worrying context, suicide prevention has become a health priority established by the Department of Health. That's why the Parc Taulí, in collaboration with CatSalut and the Suicide Prevention Observatory of Catalonia, has promoted a driving group for suicide prevention research. The group, under the coordinated by Diego Palao, head of the mental health and neuroscience research area of ​​the I3PT and Director of Mental Health of Parc Taulí, promotes and will integrate interdisciplinary research related to suicidal behavior and its prevention. In this way, both epidemiological, clinical, social and medico-forensic research will be harmonized and allow the scientific evidence obtained to be applied more efficiently, with a translational approach.

The researcher also recognizes that one of the barriers they repeatedly encounter is the lack of funding: "Despite the impact it has on current public health, suicide is not a topic that has been prioritized in terms of research until now In this sense, one of the objectives of the motor group is also to raise awareness and promote greater investment in suicide prevention research".

The creation of the group is aligned with the priority activities of the Suicide Prevention Plan of Catalonia (PLAPRESC), launched in 2021, and has the main instruments and agents involved in assistance and suicide prevention research in the country: Mental health and addictions master plan, CatHealth, Suicide Prevention Observatory in Catalonia, Barcelona Public Health Agency, Public Health Agency of Catalonia, CPB Mental Health Services, ICS innovation office, 061 Medical Emergency Service, Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Catalonia, After Suicide-Association of Survivors (DSAS), Vic Hospital Consortium (CHV), Vall d'Hebron, Sant Pau Hospital, Hospital Clínic, Hospital del Mar (IMIM) i  Sant Joan de Déu Health Park i theParc Taulí University Hospital.

"We want to make significant progress in the results of suicide prevention research. And to do it we need to have much more scientific production. With the creation of this motor group, facilitating access to data and collaboration between the researchers who integrate it, we will obtain more knowledge that can be applied in healthcare and clinical practice", he predicts Palau.

Periodically, the different agents that are part of the driving group meet to monitor the road map and speed up the collaborations between the participating entities in order to build a research ecosystem in the prevention of suicide risk. This March 12, the second meeting was held, after the first held on December 19 last year to set it up.