Abu Noem Farooqi, Sharjeela Tariq, Farah Asad, Faisal Abid, Osama Tariq.
Epidemiological profile of Suicidal poisoning at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
Ann Abbasi Shaheed Hosp Karachi Med Dent Coll Jan ;9(1):502-5.

Objective: To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of suicidal poisoning in our setting in relevance to age, sex and socioeconomic factors. Material and methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study conducted at medical unit II Abbasi shaheed hospital from Jan 2003 to Sep 2003. All fifty patients admitted in medical ward with history of substance ingestion in an attempt to commit suicide were included in the study. The indicators investigated were of demographic, socioeconomic and of substance relevance. Statistical analysis of the study was performed on statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 10). Results: A total of 50 patients with attempted suicide were included in the study, over a period of ten months. The mean age of the patients was 24.5 years. The age group of majority of the patients was 11-20 years. The oldest patient presented was 40 years old and the youngest was 13 years old. Sixty percent were males and 40 % were females. The most frequent cause found in both the sexes was quarrel with a family member associated with depression. There were one death reported among the cases. The Odds Ratio for low educational status with suicidal attempts was 1.20 (95% CI 1.12-1.28). Conclusion: Suicidal behaviors are common in our society. Males tend to take more severe attempts with an intention of completing it. Age group between 11 to 20 years in both sexes proved to be significantly associated with suicidal attempts. Though depression was a major culprit but family problems and quarrel with family members was found to be the most frequent cause of suicide.

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