[Teenagers' suicides and suicide attempts: finding one's way in epidemiologic data].

This paper engages into a global assessment of statistics and their potential uses, ranging from 19th century accounts of "suicidal acts" by the central services of criminal justice in France, to European comparative data on suicide in the years 2000. The most recent facts and figures about teenagers' suicides in France are taken into account, thanks to the Inserm records on deaths by suicide and to public polls on suicidal attempts. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.