Epidemiology of Suicide and its Associated Socio-demographic Factors in Patients Admitted to Emergency Department of ZahedanKhatam- Al- Anbia Hospital

Abstract

Background:Suicide is a growing public health problem all over the world. Understanding the prevalence of suicide and its correlates is of great importance in planning programs to reduce the risk in different societies.Objectives:The present study was conducted to assess the epidemiology of suicide and its associated risk factors in Sistan and Balouchestan Province, southeast of Iran.Patients and Methods:We investigated a total of 369 suicide cases admitted to the emergency department of Zahedan Khatam- Al- Anbia hospital between March 2010 and February 2012. Data was collected from the hospital information system (HIS) using a semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used to identify the factors associated with suicidal behaviors.Results:A greater proportion of the study subjects (65%) were female. They were more likely to be young (43.5% in the age group of 16 to 25 years) and illiterate or have a primary school education (20.9% and 48.8%, respectively). Housewives and self-employed individuals and those with a low or medium income dominated the suicide cases. The most common method of suicide was burning (53.4%) followed by drug ingestion (23.8%). One third of the suicide cases occurred during spring. The case fatality rate was 49.6% and it was significantly associated with low income, summer time suicides, burning as a method of suicide.Conclusions:This study highlights the burden of suicide and itspotential socio-demographic risk factors in Sistan and Blouchestan Province. This information has an implication for planning the preventive measures, policy making and future research.

Characteristics of Attempted Suicide Patients Presenting to a Greek Emergency Department

“…Self-poison was the predominant method of attempted suicide, a finding comparable to previous research results reported in the USA (68%) [10], Europe (66% -86%) [5,9,26,28] and Asian (69-86%) [17,18] with the exception of Iran where the most common method of suicide was burning (53.4%) [38]. The most often used substances was benzodiazepines (36,6%), which is similar to previous studies ranging from 39%-61% [18,39] and the second most frequent substance was analgesic.…”

Substance use, affective symptoms, and suicidal ideation among Russian, Somali, and Kurdish migrants in Finland

“…Shooshtary et al, 2008;Ziaei et al, 2017) and on Iraqi migrants (Siddiqui et al, 2014;Tingho¨g et al, 2010). Our results on the associations between suicidal ideation and binge drinking/lifetime cannabis use are in line with findings from Iranian city-wide studies on adults and adolescents, where substance use was more prevalent among suicide attempters in comparison to non-attempters (Behmanehsh et al, 2014;Nojomi et al, 2007;Ziaei et al, 2017).…”

Income-related inequality in completed suicide across the provinces of Iran

“…The rate of completed suicides (per 100,000) in Iran was 6.60 for males and 2.70 for females in 2010 [ 7 ]. According to a systematic review of studies on suicide, the prevalence of suicide in Iran is 9.40 (per 100,000), which is higher than in other eastern Mediterranean region countries [ 8 ]. The risk of suicide has been associated with many factors, such as mental disorders, unemployment, low income, ethnicity, genetic loading, sex, age, and life events [ 9 , 10 ].…”