Citation

Rogde S, Hougen HP, Poulsen K. Forensic Sci. Int. 1996; 80(3): 211-219.

Affiliation

Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8682421

Abstract

Suicides from the city and county of Copenhagen, Denmark, and from the two police districts Oslo and Asker and Baerum, Norway, two comparable Scandinavian capital populations, were studied with regard to age, gender, suicide methods, marital status, nationality, month of year, somatic and psychiatric disease, previous suicidal attempts or suicidal threats, and suicide location. The incidence of suicides was higher in the Copenhagen material than in the Oslo material. In both cities the preferred method was intoxication by prescription drugs. In Copenhagen suffocation by means of a plastic bag was a frequently used method, while the Norwegians more often hanged or shot themselves. While hanging was very uncommon among the Copenhagen females, this was not the case in the Oslo population. Both materials had a male preponderance. Attention is also drawn to the well known phenomenon that the suicide rate may increase due to publicity about a suicide method.

Language: en