Study of Seasonal Trends of Suicidal Deaths in Gulbahga Region of Karnataka

Suicide which is a common cause of unnatural deaths continues to be a major problem, a retrospective and prospective study of sociodemographic profile, causes of suicide, method of suicide and various trends of suicidal distribution in Gulbarga region was conducted over a period of five years from 1^st January 2000 to 31^st December 2004 using the data from hospital admission papers, police records, postmortem reports, suicide notes if any and history from the relatives & friends accompanying the deceased.

Out of 2528 autopsies conducted in District Hospital of Gulbarga, over a period of 5 years, 464 were suicidal deaths. Nearly two-third of the victim were from rural areas. Distribution of suicidal cases showed slight male preponderance, majority of the victims being illiterate, majority at a time interval of 0600 to 1200 hrs with no significant distribution in day or month wise trends. Poisoning was the most common modality of suicide followed by hanging and the least being the firearm injury. Chronic illness was the most common reason for suicide. Psychiatric illnesses, financial crisis, harassment by in-laws were the other main reasons for suicide in majority of the cases. Victims occasionally left behind the suicide note.