Hanging as a method of suicide in Ghana: A 10 year autopsy study

Akosa A Badu,Edmund M Der,Irene A Dakwah,Leonard Derkyi-Kwarteng

doi:10.7243/2052-7896-4-2

Akosa A Badu, Edmund M Der + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.7243/2052-7896-4-2

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Abstract

Abstract Background: There are no official statistics on hanging as a method of suicide in Ghana. The aim of this study was to describe the proportions of deaths that were due to suicide by hanging, the gender and age

Highlights

Hanging is one of the most commonly used fatal method of suicide worldwide [1,2,3]
During the period of study (2003-2013), the total number of autopsies performed in our institution was 44,000, of which 148 (0.34%) were deaths due to suicide by hanging
It was found that 0.34% of all autopsies performed in our institution were suicide deaths by hanging, there was no trend in the numbers of suicide deaths over the study of period

Summary

Introduction

Hanging is one of the most commonly used fatal method of suicide worldwide [1,2,3]. There are no official statistics on hanging as a method of suicide [10,11,12]. The aim of this study was to describe the proportions of deaths due to suicide by hanging, the gender and age characteristics and the type of ligature used, by a descriptive autopsy data and offer recommendations. There are no official statistics on hanging as a method of suicide in Ghana. The aim of this study was to describe the proportions of deaths that were due to suicide by hanging, the gender and age characteristics and the type of ligature used and offer recommendations

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion