Suicide Cases in Manipal, South India: An Autopsy Study

Suicide constitutes a major public health problem. It is a manifestation of self-destructive behavior that results from a crisis situation often not sufficiently recognized by relatives and friends or by the medical profession. The present study sample consisted of 656 cases of suicide out of the 3571 total autopsy cases done in the department of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, Karnataka. The present study shows that the people of all age groups were involved. The highest incidence was amongst the 21?30 years (35.06 %). Male victims predominated. Present study predicts marriage as being one of the important risk factors for suicide. Most of the victims belonged to the Hindu religion (86.4 %). When we look at the presence of any past illness, 174 cases (26.5%) were having some form of chronic physical and mental disorders at the time of committing suicides. Although seasonal variation is not much, however the present study reveals highest number of cases in summer season (36.1%). Despair with life was the most common motive for suicide. 74.4 % of the total victims in the present study used chemicals for terminating their lives and only 26.8 % of the study group used physical methods for committing suicide. Amongst those who opted for physical methods, hanging was the most common (15.6 %). Among the poisoning cases, organ phosphorus poisoning (51 %) was the most commonly used method for suicide.