Abstract

Introduction: Suicide being a major contributor to fatality world over still remains an enigma for the manyscholars who have devoted time and resources to unravel its secrets. As per WHO, there occurs one suicidal death every 40 seconds. Materials and Methods: A prospective autopsy based study was conducted over a 3 year period from 2014-2016 in S.C.B. Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack and a total of 904 cases of suicidal deaths were studied using a specially devised questionnaire. Multiple social, biological and psychological factors were taken into account. Result: It revealed a male to female ratio in completed suicides of 1:1.17 and 69.14% suicides to be in the age group of 15-44 years. The victims predominantly belonged to lower income groups followed by those from lower middle class. Married females clearly outnumbered the married males. Males were seen to be more vulnerable when living in a nuclear setup. Poisoning followed by hanging was found to be the most preferred methods to commit suicide. Housewives contributed heavily to the total case load. It was found that persons with a regular employment were least likely to commit suicid

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