Suicide and attempted suicide in France: results of a general practice sentinel network, 1999-2001.

The continuous surveillance of suicide and attempted suicide cases was added to the tasks of the French Sentinel Network of General Practitioners (GPs) in 1999. In 2001, 9700 suicides were estimated to have occurred and an estimated 61 500 attempted suicide cases were diagnosed by GPs, representing approximately 40% of cases nationwide. The majority of suicide and attempted suicide cases involved women (67%) and 43% of all cases involved patients aged 25-44 years. The fatality rate increased with age. About 80% of GPs complied with the current recommendation to refer patients who had attempted suicide to hospital.