Epidemio-toxicological profile and reasons for fatal suicidal poisoning: A record-based study in South India

Poisoning is the second frequent cause of suicide in India. To plan an effective intervention and awareness program, it is essential to know the sociodemographic profile, pattern, and reasons for suicide.

We conducted this study to find the sociodemographic profile, pattern, and reasons for fatal suicidal poisoning.

We conducted a record-based study in a tertiary hospital in Puducherry. We reviewed autopsies conducted between January 2010 and December 2014 for fatal suicidal poisoning. We extracted data using a data collection sheet for age, gender, marital status, occupation, residence, the reason for suicide, time of injury, time of death. We entered data in Microsoft Excel, and we did a descriptive analysis by using R software version.

We reviewed 3996 medicolegal autopsies, out of which 595 cases were of fatal suicidal poisoning. The mean age of the cases was 35.8 years (SD-14.6). The majority of the cases were married (74.8%) for 20-30 years (31.8%). Most of the victims were agriculture workers (22.2%), lived in a rural setting (84.4%), died during the daytime (61.2%), and in the summer season (54.5%). The most common poison used was organophosphates (48.7%), and the most common reason was family problems (30.2%). The median survival time (h) for the cases (n = 564) was 45.8 h (IQR: 16.4 to 110.6).

We found fatal suicidal poisoning was common among males, young adults, married, agriculture workers/laborers, and in a rural setting. The findings help plan an effective intervention for suicide prevention in India.