Citation

Austin AE, van den Heuvel C, Byard RW. Am. J. Forensic Med. Pathol. 2014; 35(2): 145-147.

Affiliation

From the *Discipline of Anatomy and Pathology, The University of Adelaide; and †Pathology, Forensic Science SA, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/PAF.0000000000000094

PMID

24781398

Abstract

It has been suggested that there is a connection between depression and an increased body mass index (BMI). As depression is related to suicide, a South Australian cohort study was performed to test whether a high BMI may also characterize victims of suicide. Body mass indexes from 100 consecutive cases of suicide (male-to-female ratio, 1:1) taken from the files of Forensic Science South Australia in Adelaide, Australia, were compared with BMIs from 100 sex- and age-matched control cases, where deaths were due to accidents, homicides, or natural diseases. No significant differences in BMIs and BMI categories were found between the 2 groups. However, when cases were subclassified according to the method used, BMIs were noted to be considerably lower in hangings than in both the control group as well as in victims who died of alternative means of suicide (P < 0.001). An association between an increased BMI and suicide could not be substantiated in this local study. However, the reasons for the decreased BMIs in hangings require further consideration that may assist in understanding more about particular victim subgroups.

Language: en