الگوي فصلي خودكشي و اقدام به خودكشي در استان ايلام طي سال هاي 1375 تا 1382

Seasonal Pattern of Suicide And Attempted Suicide in Ilam Province During 1995-2002

Introduction: Suicide and attempted suicide are mental complex phenomena directed by personal and environmental factors. Among environmental factors, climatic conditions due to seasonal changes might have an impact on both the phenomena. Since, most relevant studies have been conducted within western countries, the aim of the present study was to investigate the seasonal patterns of suicide and attempted suicide within Ilam province. Material & methods: This study used confirmed and attempted suicide data, which have been collected by the systematic registration within Ilam province during 1995 to 2002. In this registration, all suicide and attempted suicide data occurred within the province with their demographic characteristics including age, sex, marital status and the time of incident had been recorded. Findings: During the investigation period, 615 cases of suicide and 1806 cases of attempted suicide took place within Ilam province. The distribution of cases based on their season of occurrence showed that most suicide cases ,191 (31.1%), had happened in spring, whilst most the attempted suicide cases 595 (32.9%) had occurred in summer. These differences were statistically significant. Similarly, in all sub-groups under investigation most suicide cases happened in spring, whilst most attempted suicide cases occurred in summer. Conclusion: Within Ilam province, as proved in many other countries, suicide and attempted suicide have mostly occurred during spring and summer. Apart from the impact of season on the occurrence of these phenomena, the results of this study also suggest that, especially, before spring and summer the health and treatment organizations within the region should have proper programs to deal with this problem.