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Citation
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Bergman-Levy T, Levi L, Kugel C, Yoffe R, Susser E, Park J, Davis JM, Weiser M. Schizophr. Res. 2022; 243: 118-119. |
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Abstract
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Restricting access to means of suicide is an effective interventions to decrease rates of suicide (Pollock, 2019). These means differ between different countries. For example, in Taiwan, removal of barbecue charcoal from open shelves in major retail stores decreased rates of charcoal-burning suicide (Chen et al., 2015), and in the US, restrictive alcohol and firearm policies are associated with lower rates of suicide involving alcohol or firearms (Coleman et al., 2021). Means of suicide used by psychiatric patients also vary; in a study from Taiwan, compared with the general population, patients with schizophrenia were more likely to commit suicide by jumping and drowning and less likely to use charcoal-burning and hanging (Pan et al., 2020).
This study compared means of suicide in Israel between patients who had or had not been hospitalized in psychiatric facilities.
Data on all suicides completed between 2001 and 2020 in Israel were obtained from the Israeli National Institute of Forensic Medicine, where bodies of persons suspected of dying by suicide are first examined for external findings (for example a ligature mark in the neck in case of hanging, or bullet wounds in case of shooting), and all undergo total body CT scan to find evidence indicating possible suicide, for example hyperinflation of the lungs in cases of hanging or drowning, or the wound track of the bullet. When autopsy is performed, evidence of cause of death and mechanism of death are analyzed (for example laceration of aorta in fall from height, or pleural petechiae in cases of asphyxiation). Toxicological analysis of body fluids is also performed. The suspected manner of death (homicide, accident, suicide, or natural) is reported on the death certificate, based on post mortem reports, toxicological findings, evidence from the scene, police information and circumstances surrounding the death. There are no cultural influences that bias the determination of the suspected manner of death.
Data on patients was obtained from the National Psychiatric Hospitalization Registry, which contains data, including last discharge diagnosis, on all patients who had been hospitalized at any time in their life in any psychiatric facility in the country. Patients were divided according to the ICD-10 diagnostic groups...
Language: en |