Self-harm behaviours (SHB), including attempted suicide, and completed suicide (CS) have been reported to be common among migrants. the objective of this study is to provide a retrospective analysis of migrants that committed SHB and CS, in relation to their psychiatric history and care, in the same catchment area and in the same period.

Data on migrants referred to psychiatric consultation from the A&E department for SHB during 2010 and 2011 at the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Service in Modena were compared to data on migrants that committed CS recorded in the database of Modena Forensic Medicine Service.

Of the 297 total SHB referred to psychiatric consultation in the two years, 102 were of migrants (34.3%), mainly women (54.8%) with a mean age of 31.4 years (SD = 12.2). in the same period, CS among migrants were instead only 5.7% of total (122), all male (100%), with a mean age of 36.3 years (SD = 10.9). the majority (70.2%) of SHB migrants were not under psychiatric care at the moment of SHB, but 39.3% had a positive psychiatric history. After psychiatric referral, 26.8% were admitted to the psychiatric ward. SHB were more than one in the two-year period for 13.6% migrant patients. Hanging was the most frequent method for CS (71.4%), whereas drug ingestions were for SHB (42.9%).

Data from our analysis confirm general epidemiologic features of suicide as well as the finding of SHB being particularly common among migrants.