Citation

Paraschakis A, Michopoulos I, Efstathiou V, Christodoulou C, Boyokas I, Douzenis A. Med. Leg. J. 2018; 86(1): 45-48.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Medico-Legal Society, Publisher SAGE Publications)

DOI

10.1177/0025817217727648

PMID

28832253

Abstract

We studied a sample of suicide victims from Greece's main port of Piraeus area (population: approx. 700,000 individuals) and investigated all suicides for the 10-year period 2006-2015, collecting data from the victims' forensic records at the Piraeus Department of Forensic Medicine. Sixty-nine (15.9%) out of 435 suicides were due to drowning, 51 (73.9%) males and 18 (26.1%) females. Drowning was the third most common suicide method with most in the sea (92.8%), fewer in wells (7.2%). Median age: males 52.2 years (standard deviation (SD): 20.3, range: 27-89) and females 58.8 years (SD: 15.2, range: 32-84). Psychiatric medications: antidepressants (6 cases, 8.9%), benzodiazepines (6 cases, 8.9%) and antipsychotics (1 case, 1.5%). Other substances: alcohol (14 cases, 20.9%), cocaine (1 case, 1.5%) and opioids (1 case, 1.5%). No seasonal effect was observed for suicides by drowning. Greece, being a country with an embracing coastline, could provide a field of study for suicide by drowning.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Adult; Aged; Female; Male; Middle Aged; Suicide; Drowning; Greece; Aged, 80 and over; Forensic Medicine; sea; Suicide by drowning