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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Suicide cases in Karachi are increasing sharply. This is a study with mixed methodology. A descriptive comparative study in which retrospective data of 500 completed suicide (CS)from police record was taken and 200 fresh interviews of Attempted Suicide (AS) from National Poison Centre, JPMC were recorded.
AIM: To understand the pattern of suicide in Karachi and to compare association of complete and attempted suicide with different socio-economic factors.
METHODS: A total of 500 cases of completed suicide (CS) from 2011-2015 were randomly selected from police stations of all 18 towns of Karachi. In addition 200 attempted suicide (AS) cases were interviewed from National Poison Centre, JPMC, Karachi. This made a total of 700 suicide cases.The data were entered into SPSS-17. Frequencies were calculated for categorical variables. Mean and standard deviation were calculated for age. Chi-square test of significance was applied for independent variable. Level of significance was kept 5 percent.
RESULTS: The study includes 700 suicide cases from Karachi. There were 2.46 suicide cases per 100,000 populations per year. It is found increasing each year. The mean age is 28.19±8.79 years in males while 26.07±8.25years in females. The suicide is committed mostly by males 64.3%, married 48.57%, and young people up to 30 years age 66.7%. Suicide is more common, 40.1% in unemployed persons. Cause of AS is economy in 24.9%, among CS, it is bad family relations in 23.6%. Poisoning was the main method of suicide in AS 56.5%, while hanging is common method in 40.4% in CS. There is no significant difference between CS and AS with gender, age, marital status, and employment with p value of 0.549, 0.187, 0.649, and 0.266 respectively.
CONCLUSION: The suicide rates are increasing in Karachi. The rate of CS is 2.46/1,00,000 population. Mostly young people of 20-30 years of age commit suicide. There is no significance difference between marital status and job status.The study showed different reasons for suicide in CS and AS; it is bad family relations and bad economy consecutively. The method is similarly different, it is hanging in CS and poisoning in AS.
Language: en |