Investigation of the outcomes and varieties of violent suicides during a period of twenty years in Ilam, Iran

Suicide is one of the main health problems in different societies and is associated with different risk factors. The result of a suicide attempt is directly related to the selected method. Invasive suicides are known as violent methods of self-harm and are usually happened in different patterns of age and gender. The aim of this study was to investigate the outcome and varieties of suicide via invasive methods in a long-term period in Ilam province, Iran.
In this retrospective study, the required data, including demographic variables, outcomes and the kind of invasive method was extracted from a comprehensive registration system of suicide cases, recorded by Ilam University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), to investigate the invasive suicides during the 1993-2013 years. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Ilam University of Medical Sciences and based on this approval the permission to access the suicide data was issued. Data were entered into the SPSS 20 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and using descriptive statistical methods and chi-square were analyzed based on completed or attempted outcome of suicide.
Among a total of 1516 cases of invasive suicide, 643 (42.6%) were attempted and 867 (57.4%) were completed suicides. Self-immolation method showed the highest frequency of suicide (both completed and attempted). The highest frequency of completed suicide was occurred in females (52.8%) but the attempted suicide was higher in males (63.6%). The age groups of 25-34 years and above 65 years indicated the highest frequencies of attempted and completed suicides respectively.
One of the main objectives of this study was identification of high risk groups who used the invasive methods for suicide commitments, based on their epidemiological characteristics such as gender and age. The results showed that women and elderly individuals were among the high-risk groups who committed completed suicide using the invasive methods and self-immolation attributed the most frequent method among invasive methods for suicide in Ilam province which resulted in death.