Risk Factors for Committed Suicide in a Romanian Sample

Abstract

Introduction: Suicide rates are implicit indicators of how effective social, religious and medical services address personal and economic crisis. Objectives: The assessment of suicide risk factors and patterns in a Romanian sample. Aims: To identify the most relevant suicide risk factors in the present context. Methods: The study included all suicide cases autopsied at Timisoara Institute of Legal Medicine from 2009 to 2012. The following data were analyzed: socio-demographic records, blood alcohol levels and the number of committed suicides. Results: The study included 310 (81% men and 19% women) individuals who committed suicide, with ages ranging between 13 and 93 years. In women, the mean age was 52.34 years (std.dev. = 19.1), while in men was 49.4 (std.dev. = 17.4). The most common suicide method regardless of age, sex and residence area was hanging (68.3%). The greatest number of suicides was found in the 40-60 age group / adults (47%), followed by the 20-40 age group / young adults (26.7%) and over 60 years / seniors (26.1%). The percentage of suicides under 20 years old / adolescents was 3.5 %. There was a statistically significant difference (t = 2.06; p < 0.05) regarding alcohol blood levels between adults (0.8‰) and seniors (0.4‰), but not when compared with adolescents (0.56‰), or young adults (0.6 ‰). The average percentage of suicides committed under alcohol influence was 40% regardless of age group. Conclusions: In the studied sample adults have the highest suicidal risk and alcohol is an important risk factor.