Suicide deaths among medical students, residents and physicians in India spanning a decade (2010–2019): An exploratory study using on line news portals and Google database

Abstract

Background: Despite having one of the world’s largest medical education consortium, India lacks a comprehensive and nationally representative data on suicide deaths among medical students and physicians unlike the one found in most of the developed nations of the world. Aim: We aimed to explore the different characteristics of suicide deaths among medical students, residents and physicians in India over a decade (2010–2019). Methods: Content analysis of all suicide death reports among medical students, residents and physicians available from online news portals and other publicly available sites was done. Search was done retrospectively using pertinent search words individually or in combination with language restricted to Hindi and English and timed from January 2010 to December 2019. Reports on completed suicide by allopathic medical students, residents and physicians from India were included. Socio-demographic and suicidological variables were analysed using R software. Results: A total of 358 suicide deaths among medical students (125), residents (105) and physicians (128) were reported between 2010 and 2019. Around 7 out of 10 suicides happened before the age of 30 and had mean age 29.9 (±12.2) years. Female residents and physicians were younger than their male counterparts at the time of suicide. Overall maximum suicide deaths were concentrated in South India except the state of Kerala. The specialty of anesthesiology (22.4%) followed by obstetrics-gynaecology (16.0%) had the highest suicide deaths. Violent suicide methods were more commonly used by all, with hanging being the most common mean of suicide. Academic stress among medical students (45.2%) and residents (23.1%), and marital discord among physicians (26.7%) were the most noticeable reasons for suicide. Mental health problems were the next most common reason in medical students (24%) and physicians (20%) while harassment (20.5%) was in residents. Twenty six percent had exhibited suicide warning signs and only 13% had ever sought psychiatric help before ending their lives. A total of nine reports of suicide pact were found with the average deaths per pact being 2.4 and predominantly driven by financial reasons. Conclusion: Academic stress among medical students and residents, and marital discord in physicians emerged as the key reasons for suicide. However, this preventable domain should be further explored through focused research. This is the first of its kind study from India which attempted to explore this vital yet neglected public health issue using the most feasible and practical method of online news content-based analysis.

Suicide among Health Care Professionals—An Indian Perspective

“…In an Indian study by Chahal et al, evaluating 358 deaths among HCPs between 2010–2019, it was found that violent suicide methods were more commonly used, with hanging being the most common means of suicide [ 12 ]. Kishore et al explored 30 reported suicides by Indian doctors between the years 2013–2016 and found that 17 doctors (57%) resorted to hanging, 8 (26%) used lethal injections, 5 (17%) jumped from a building, and one jumped in front of a train [ 5 ].…”

“…Workplace harassment in the form of ragging, discrimination and nepotism has also led to suicides among medical and nursing students and resident trainees. Personal life problems such as marital discord/relationship issues are also some of the prominent causes of suicide among physicians [ 12 ].…”

“…Various reasons for successful suicides among HCPs include knowledge of lethal methods, easy access to potentially lethal drugs which can cause painless death, apathy, and fearlessness towards death after closely working with life–death situations regularly [ 12 ].…”

Increasing suicides in trainee doctors: Time to stem the tide!

“…Chahal et al . [ 4 ] explored suicidal deaths among medical professionals between 2010 and 2019 based on news reports and found that 358 deaths by suicide in 10 years, 70% of which occurred before the age of 30 years and 26% of which had shown warning signs prior to the act. Another Indian study reported 30 suicidal deaths between 2016 and 2019, 80% of which occurred in those younger than 40 years.…”

Effectiveness of gatekeepers’ training for suicide prevention program among medical professionals and medical undergraduate students of a medical college from Western India

“…[ 4 ] A recent study from India found that 358 deaths due to suicide were reported among medical students (125), residents (105), and physicians (128) between 2010 and 2019. [ 5 ] A recent study from the United States of America calculated a prevalence of 6.19 suicides/100,000 students during a period of 10 years. [ 6 ] Medical students and physicians too are not exempt from stigma associated with mental health problems.…”