Mures County (580,000 inhabitants) has constantly higher yearly suicide rates (23-32%ooo) compared to Romania's national average (12-14%ooo). We performed a prospective study with the aim to find characteristics that should help the preventive management. Autopsy is compulsory by law in violent deaths; therefore, all suicide cases are referred to our Institute. During the period 2005-2006 we completed a multi-item questionnaire in each suicide case from a total of 273. Beside age, sex, marital status, occupation and economical status, we also investigated religious adherence, type of alcoholic beverages consumed, blood alcohol concentration, previous suicide attempts, farewell notes, medical background, behavioral changes.
Results: sex distribution was M:F=4.8:1; average age for suicide victims was 51 years, the interquartile range was 38-62 years for men and 45-70 years for women. Hanging is by far the most used method for suicide in our region, 80% of the cases. Marital status (married/non-married) does not seem to influence suicide conduct. Social inactivity (workless, non-occupied) was observed in 65% of the victims. In rural areas we found a double suicide rate, rural/urban ratio was 2/1 while the population is equally distributed in towns and villages in our province (50%); we also noticed a seasonal variation of suicides in rural areas (with peaks in June and August) whereas in urban areas differences were statistically not significant. Ethnic Hungarians have double suicide rates compared to Romanians. Recent alcohol ingestion was noticed in 60% of men and only 27% of women suicides.