Trends of suicide attempts and factors related to completed suicide during the years 2014-2019 in South Khorasan province, Iran

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate the trend of suicide and its attempt and the factors related to completed suicide during a 5-year period (2014-2019) in South Khorasan province, Iran. Data analysis was performed using chi-square, independent t-test and backward logistic regression in SPSS ver. 16. Cochran-Armitage test was used to evaluate the trends of suicide attempt and completed suicide. P-value < 0.05 was considered as the significance level. There was a significantly higher rate of suicide attempt among women and a significantly higher rate of completed suicide among men (p = 0.007). The incidence of suicide attempt (p = 0.001) and suicide deaths (p = 0.003) have also increased significantly during these years and the most common method of suicide attempt is drug poisoning. Also increasing age, rural residence, having a history of mental disorder, marital separation and lower level of education led to a significant increase in the rate of completed suicide (p < 0.001). The present study showed no significant relationship between the history of suicide attempt and completed suicide (p = 0.19). The rate of suicide attempt was higher among women and the rate of completed suicide was higher among men. The rate of suicide attempts and completed suicides has increased during these five years. Factors such as untreated mental disorders, living in rural areas, separation, and older age were considered as risk factors for completed suicide. On the other hand, higher education level has played a protective role in this regard.

Keywords: Completed suicide; South Khorasan province; Suicide attempts; Suicide methods.