The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of suicide attempts, and to identify the risk factors for suicide attempts in Turkish children and adolescents between the ages 10 and 20 years. Multi-step, stratified, cluster sampling was used. A stratified sample of 4256 students was selected as representative of the city's school children population. Data was obtained with a pair of structured questionnaires designed to evaluate the presence and risk factors of suicide attempts, both in the children and adolescents and their parents. These questionnaires investigated family environment, subject characteristics, and various risk factors for suicide attempts. Child Beck Depression Inventory (CBDI) was administered to all children and adolescents. After the data quality control process, the study sample was reduced to 4143 children and adolescents. Children and adolescents were divided two groups according to the experience or non-experience of suicide attempts: group 1 (n=80) and group 2 (n=4063), respectively. Three categories of independent variables were assessed: adolescent, family, and socioeconomic characteristics. Logistic regression models were based on the children and adolescents and on parent reports. The prevalence of suicide attempts as reported by the children and adolescents was 1.93% (n=80). The mean age of group 1 was higher than that of group 2 (p=0.002, t=-3.172), as was the mean score of CBDI (p=0.000, t=-9.083). Logistic regression analysis indicated that having problems with parents, using illicit drugs, and psychiatric problems in relatives best predicted suicide attempts in Turkish children and adolescents.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Human ; Logistic Models ; Parents ; Peer Group ; Prevalence ; Psychology ; Risk Factors ; Smoking/epidemiology ; Substance-Related Disorders/epidemiology ; Suicide, Attempted/*statistics & numerical data

Superficial mycosis, including dermatophytic infections, tinea versicolor, and cutaneous candidiasis is mostly limited to the outer layers of the skin, nails, and mucous membranes. In this study, Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) polymorphism and lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations were compared between 42 patients with superficial fungal disease and 27 control subjects. Both the patients and controls were found to be normolipemic. The patients with superficial fungal disease had significantly higher concentrations of high-density cholesterol (HDL) compared to the control group (p=0.0462). However, there was no difference in the serum triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol concentrations. A significantly higher incidence of heterozygosity E2/3 was found in the patients (p=0.0228), and significantly lower incidence of homozygosity E3/3 in all patients, and those with candidiasis and dermatophytosis (p=0.0139, 0.0194 and 0.0337, respectively) compared to the control group. The E3/4 genotype differences between patients and controls were not statistically significant. There were slight differences in the allele frequencies between the two groups, but these did not reach statistically significant levels. It was concluded that the presence of apoE2/3 genotype, high HDL-cholesterol levels and the absence of apoE3/3 genotype can be regarded as risk factors for superficial fungal disease, especially dermatophytosis.
Apolipoproteins E/*genetics ; Candidiasis, Cutaneous/blood/epidemiology/*genetics ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease/epidemiology ; Genotype ; Human ; Lipids/*blood ; *Polymorphism (Genetics) ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Tinea Versicolor/blood/epidemiology/*genetics