Background: In mainland China, frequent Internet suicide pacts in recent years have raised strong concerns from several social sectors and the influence of social networks on suicide is constantly growing.
Aims: To identify the epidemiological characteristics of media-reported Internet suicide pacts in mainland China.
Method: Our study comprised 62 Internet suicide pacts involving 159 victims in mainland China before June 1, 2015. Kendall's randomness test, a trend test, and a circular distribution test were applied to identify the rising or concentrated trends in the time of occurrence of Internet suicide pacts.
Results: The overall male-to-female ratio was 2.3:1. Suicide victims were mainly people in their 20s to 30s (84.1%). In all, 87.1% suicide victims completed suicide in sealed hotels or rental housing, and charcoal-burning suicide accounted for 80.6% of cases.
Conclusion: People who complete suicide as part of an Internet suicide pact are more likely to be males, aged 20-30 years. Charcoal-burning suicide in sealed hotels or rental housing was the commonest way of dying.
Keywords: China; Internet suicide pacts; charcoal burning; epidemiological characteristics; media.