Prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempted suicide in the general population of Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: In Ethiopia, in spite of the high burden of suicide related-adverse effect, substantial variability in the reported prevalence of individual studies about suicidal ideation and attempted suicide; there is no national level epidemiological evidence. Thus, the present study aimed to determine the pooled prevalence of suicide ideation and suicidal attempt in the general population. METHODS: We followed the PRISMA Guidelines to report the results of the finding. Databases including: PubMed/Medline, SCOPUS, CINAHL (EBSCOhost), African Journal Online (AJOL) and African Indexed Medicus (AIM) were searched. Heterogeneity was assessed by Cochrane chi-square (χ(2)) and quantified by I(2) statistics test. Sensitivity test and subgroup analysis performed. Publication bias was tested by funnel plots and Egger’s test. Effect size was calculated by random effects model. RESULTS: A total of 12 studies for suicidal ideation and 10 studies for attempted suicide were included in the study. The prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempted suicide were ranged from 1 to 55% and 0.6% to 14% respectively. The 12-month pooled prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicidal attempt were 9% (5–16%), I(2) = 99.64%, p < 0.001 and 4% (1–8%), I(2) = 98.11%, p < 0.001] respectively. The lifetime pooled prevalence of attempted suicide was found to be 4% (3–6%). We found evidence of significant heterogeneity for suicidal ideation [I(2) = 99.64%, p < 0.001] and attempted suicide [I(2) = 98.11%, p < 0.001]. The subgroup analysis could not identified source of heterogeneity. The sensitivity analysis showed that none of the point estimates was outside of the overall 95%CI for suicidal ideation and attempted suicide. No evidence of publication bias from the visual inspection of the funnel plot for suicidal ideation and [Egger’s test (P = 0.174)] and attempted suicide [Egger’s test (P = 0.318)]. CONCLUSION: High prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempted suicide were observed in the general population of Ethiopia. These suggest the need of strengthening the awareness of suicidal behaviours and evaluate the effectiveness of the national health strategy in addressing the issues of suicidal behaviours.