Epidemiological Profile of Suicide by Hanging in Madurai

Suicide is a great menace to the society and shows increasing trends throughout the world. One hundred and fifty cases of known dead bodies of both genders brought for medico-legal autopsy with history of Suicide by hanging were studied at the department of Forensic Medicine, Government Medical College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.

There was a male preponderance in the study group (73.3%) whereas in females it was (26.6%). The major cause of suicide was family dispute (30.6%), followed by ailment (26%) and economic crisis (21.3%). The majority of cases were married (66.6%). Socioeconomic status was low in majority of the cases (96.6%).