Suicide among children and adolescents in South Delhi (1991-2000).

OBJECTIVE

Suicide among youth is of great concern and a subject requires thorough study to formulate prevention strategy. In this paper the incidence and trends of suicide among children and adolescent of South Delhi have been reported.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis was carried out on 222 cases of suicidal deaths pertaining to age group of 10-18 years, the postmortem examination on the body of which were conducted in Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi during the period from 1st January 1991 to 31st December 2000. The particular of cases were analyzed according to age group, sex, method used and causes of committing suicide.

RESULTS

Out of 222 cases 123(55.4%) were of girls (Female: Male 1.24:1). Commonest age group involved was 15-18 years in both the sexes. Commonest method used for committing suicide was hanging (57% in girls, 49.5% in boys) followed by poisoning (37.4% in girls, 49.5% in boys).

CONCLUSION

Methods used to commit suicide are widely available and are difficult to restrict. Therefore, suicide prevention strategy based on risk factors could be more effective rather than limiting the access to methods.