An Alarming Situation of Suicide Patterns and Methods Involved in Pakistan

Adnan Liaqat

doi:10.11648/j.ajpn.20170503.12

Abstract

The act of deliberately killing an individual’s own life is known as suicide. Suicide is an important social issue and major cause of mortality Worldwide. The data was obtained from Pakistan Ordinance Factories (POF) Hospital WahCantt, Tehsil Headquarter hospital Taxila and Hassan Abdal, Pakistan. Retrospective study design was used to review suicidal cases during 2013-2014 in three health centers of Pakistan. “A Guide for Manner of Death Classification” was used for assessing the suicidal identification criteria by National Association of Medical Examiners. Chi-square test was applied to see the association between qualitative variables. A total of 100 cases were retrieved.The mean age was found to be 27.12±10.11 years. The peak age of suicidal attempts was seen in 20-30 years of age. The suicidal rate was found to be higher among males 29.99±12.73 than females 23.03±7.669. Study found out that suicide methods among all cases are 40% drug overdose, 20% wrist cutting, 10% hanging, 10% jumping from height, 10% chemical poising and 10% suicidal burns. The suicide rate is higher among Pakistani population but it was underestimated due to lack of reporting, cultural and religious reasons. Effective prevention requires a clear understanding of the size of the problem, its distribution in the population, and the major risk and protective factors at the levels of the individual, the family and the community.

Highlights

IntroductionSuicide is an important social issue and major cause of mortality Worldwide [2]
The act of deliberately killing an individual’s own life is known as suicide [1]
Suicide emerged as an important social issue in Pakistan

Summary

Introduction

Suicide is an important social issue and major cause of mortality Worldwide [2]. Suicide emerged as an important social issue in Pakistan. In Sindh (Province of Pakistan), the rate of suicide is higher among males than females [5]. Males in age of 20 to 40 years are at high risk of attempting suicide (7.06/100,000) than females [6]. Suicide attempts are considerably common among young males and females. Suicides emerge as a challenging situation in Pakistan due to lack of resources, week political process and lack of access to mental health services [8]. 34% of population is suffering from mental health issues in Pakistan while depression is projected to be leading cause of suicide among 90% of cases [9]. The study objective was to determine the suicide patterns and methods most frequently used for suicide attempt

Material and Methods

Data Analysis

Results

Discussion

Conclusion