Socio-Demographic Profile of Suicidal Cases Autopsied at Tertiary Care Centre in Uttarakhand: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Suicide is an imperative public health problem that needs social as well as medical attention. In India,
134516 people committed suicide in 2018 and also there is an increase in the number of suicide cases in
Uttarakhand as well. The aim was to analyse the trend of suicidal deaths autopsied at our center concerning
different parameters like age, gender, method of suicide, reason for suicide, to know the demographic pattern
and its cause. The autopsy reports and inquest papers of suicidal cases autopsied at AIIMS Rishikesh were
included for evaluation. Out of total 19.49% of total autopsies were of suicidal deaths. Majority of the
victims were males (76.42%) compared to females (22.76%). The average age of victims was 35 years and
76.4% belonged to the age group 14 to 43 years. The risk of suicide was more prevalent in urban population.
Among the total victims, 39.83% were in jobs. Regarding the reason behind suicide, family dispute was
most common. The most common mode of suicide was hanging followed by poisoning and drowning.
Organophosphates was the most repeated poison consumed in suicides by poisoning. About 75% cases were
complete suicides and couldn’t receive medical care. Majority of the cases belonged to Rishikesh police
station. The important aspects of suicides among young generation is peer pressure which can be from
family, institutional, or work etc. An effective strategy needs to be devised to combat the issue.