Socio-Demographical Profile of Suicidal Deaths at a Tertiary Care Hospital in South India and Implications

Abstract

Although in India, where attempted suicide is liable to be punished by law under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, the suicide rates are higher and comparable to other countries. We, in this study analyze the role of socio-demographic and socio-economic status in the suicide behavior from the Chennai city, the capital of South Indian state Tamil Nadu. Data was collected of the deceased who died due to suicide which was confirmed by using structured interview with the Police, relatives and friends of the deceased after obtaining informed consent from them. In every case the age, sex and other socio-demographic details were collected using a proforma framed for this purpose. According to the results, Male to female ratio was 2.75: 1. Suicide was seen more in the age group of 15–44 years. The majority of deaths were among people with education above primary school, and middle school. Suicide cases were comparatively more in married than unmarried and more suicidal death observed in high salary group. Suicide is a multi-factorial incident; caused due to a direct effect of some underlying mental distress originated of social stigma, unemployment, and/or economic status.