JULIA VALDERRAMA MADRID

MADRID

Updated Sunday, January 21, 2024-00:39

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost 800,000 people take their lives each year and many more attempt it.

Deaths

by suicide

are a serious public health problem and represent the second cause of death in people between 15 and 29 years old.

A significant percentage of those who attempt suicide without success try again the following year.

«Between 20 and 30% of people are

repeat offenders

.

After a year, between 1 and 4% who try again will die by suicide, and we know that after 10 years that figure rises to 10%," says

Enrique Baca-García

, professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid and head of the Department of Psychiatry of the Jiménez Díaz Foundation.

Routines are part of the life of a large part of the population: getting up, going to work or an educational center, returning home at the same time,

doing

homework... These are common activities that many people have, including those who have suffered a suicide attempt.

The research carried out by the

Jiménez Díaz Foundation

has shown that these routines change prior to suicide attempts, they stop being carried out, so that by controlling these daily activities, the moments of greatest possibility of relapse can be located.

"With this project we no longer only see the

people at risk

, but also the days in which this risk multiplies," comments Baca-García, leader of the research.

In order to detect the days of greatest risk, they have developed an application with which,

from the mobile phone

, activities are recorded and questions are answered to monitor the status of the patients.

Change detection

«Our project uses technology to detect changes in people's behavior.

It helps us predict risk situations, with indicators such as

sleep activity, movement, contact with social networks

... What we have seen is that with this we are able to generate individual patterns of behavior," explains Baca-García.

This project is going to begin to be implemented now, however, its first phase, or pilot phase,

is already operating in Madrid in several hospitals

, mainly in the Jiménez Díaz Foundation, in the General University Hospital of Villalba and in the Rey Juan Carlos Hospital. .

«More than 300 people have tried this project in Madrid.

The idea is that about

2,000 people

throughout Spain will use it in the coming years," details the professor.

However, the approach to this research arose many years ago: «I have been working on this project for more than 25 years.

My entire professional life I have been dedicated to researching suicidal behaviors,” says Baca-García.

To help develop this project and carry it out, the economic boost from the

'La Caixa' Foundation

has been very important , in the CaixaResearch call for Health Research 2023.

«The essence is in the end

to help people who are really suffering a lot

and who, in addition to being at risk of dying, are also at risk of suffering consequences for the rest of their lives, with what this means for the people around them. », concludes Baca-García.