Objective:
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death following traffi c accidents, especially in the young. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of suicides, death ratios and sociodemographic features in our city (Sanliurfa province, Turkey).
Materials and Methods:
In the study, subjects who applied to the emergency department due to suicide between 01th June 2008 and 31th May 2009 were analysed retrospectively. Data on sociodemographic features, methods used for suicide attempts and reasons were obtained by reviewing the medical fi les of the cases.
Results:
Of 53.678 patients who applied to the emergency department , 499 (0.9%) were found from the records to apply with suicide. 417 (88.7%) of the subjects were females and 82 (16.3%) were males. Suicides were found to increase in the 30-28 age group (60.4%). Methods used for suicide attempts were drug overdose or toxic substance ingestion in 96.9% (n=484), gunshot wounds, stab wounds, jumping off or hanging in 3.1% (n=15). The most commonly preferred agents were anti-infl ammatory drugs in suicide attempts with drugs (45.9%). Ratio of death was 3.8% (n=19) among all cases and 68.4% (n=13) of the dying subjects were males. Most of the deaths occurred due to organic phosphorus ingestion (47.3%) (n=9).
Conclusion:
In our study, suicide attempts were found to be a social problem for our region and it was more common in the productive population between the ages of 20-28 years and in females. However,, ratio of suicide attempts resulted in death was found to be higher among males.
Keywords: Suicide, emergency department, death, organic phosphorus, sociodemographic data