Committed Suicide: Forensic Autopsy Analysis at
Ramathibodi Hospital during Year 2001-2010
Vichan Peonim MD*,
Kanchana Sujirachato PhD**, Smith Srisont MD*,
Jitta Udnoon MD*, Wisarn Worasuwannarak MD*
Affiliation :
* Division of Forensic Medicine, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital,
Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
** Faculty of Science and Technology, Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand
Background : Suicide is one of the most important causes of death in the world. To study the behaviors and risk factors may
be helpful to prevent suicide.
Objective : To retrospectively study the factors that affected suicide in forensic postmortem cases at Ramathibodi Hospital,
Bangkok, Thailand between 2001 and 2010.
Material and Method: Two hundred ninety suicidal cases from 7,102 forensic postmortem autopsies in Ramathibodi Hospital
between 2001 and 2010 were descriptively retrospective studied. Study topics included sex, age, nationality, year, methods
of suicide, and HIV.
Results : The suicide-rate in the present study varied between 2.53% and 6.91% (average 4.08%) of the forensic autopsy
cases. The peak was found in 2003. Males had higher suicide rate than females [ratio of M:F of 4.3:1 (235 males and
55 females)]. The age varied from seven years to 91 years. Although the average age of suicide was 37.38 years, the peak
was found in the young adult (age group of 21 to 30 years). Male, younger age, and foreigner were related to suicide with
statistical significance. Hanging was the most frequent method of suicide followed by fall from height (62.1% and 17.2%
respectively) and by firearm (in male) and toxic substance ingestion (in females). Of all the suicide, 5.1% were HIV
seropositive, which is slightly more than non-HIV cases (4.0%) but this was not statistically significant.
Conclusion : The suicidal cases among unusual death were related to varieties of factors. Male, younger age, and foreigner
were significant related to suicide. Hanging and falling from height were the most frequent method of suicide.
Keywords : Suicide, Forensic autopsy, Method of suicide, Suicide risk, Suicide in Thailand
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