Zaki-ud-din Ahmad, Khalil Mobin, Syed Mohammad Maqsood.
A study on the pattern of suicide in Karachi Pakistan.
Biomedica Jan ;30(2):96-100.

Suicide is a serious public health issue. It affects families and in large, societies badly. Suicide is a com- mon problem of the world, even greater in the developed world.1 Suicide rates are on rise; alarming sit- uation is that it is more common phenomenon in young age group. Between ages 15 – 24 years it is trip- led in past few decades in USA.1 Its causes are complex and culture oriented. Pakistan is no difference but negligence in reporting system makes it unreliable. Karachi is a big cosmopolitan city of Pakistan reflecting all communities and ethnic groups. The present study was conducted in Karachi with object- tives: to graduate the pattern of suicide in Karachi, and its association with gender, residence, age gro- up, marital status, employment status and monthly income. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive analytical study which is based on five years Police record, taken from 18 Towns of Karachi. Fifty four Police Stations, three from each Town were randomly selec- ted. Purposefully ten suicide cases were taken from each Police Station. Forty cases were rejected as ha- ving incomplete information. A total of 500 suicide cases from police record were taken. Further 200 attempted cases of suicide from National Toxic Centre, JPMC were included making a total of 700 sui- cide cases. Results: There were 2.46 suicide cases per 100,000 population per year. The mean age was 28.19 years in males (SD = 8.79) and in females it was 26.07 years (SD = 8.25). The suicide was committed mostly by males (n = 450). There has been continuous increase in suicide from 2001 to 2005. Married (48.57%) and young people (26%) committed more suicide. Regarding occupation, unemployed were on top (40.1%). Highest suicide rate was in urban areas (71%). Hanging was the main method of suicide in males (35.7%) and in females it was poisoning (45.5%). There was no significant association of gender and marital status with suicide group (P = 0.11 and P = 0.061 respectively). However residence, age and employment status showed significant association; P = 0.00, P = 0.02 and P = 0.03 respectively.

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