MyMedR

Displaying all 3 publications

Abstract:

Sort:

Pattern of suicide: a review of autopsies conducted at the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur

Nadesan K

Malays J Pathol, 1999 Dec;21(2):95-9.
PMID: 11068413

Suicide is one of the ten leading causes of death in the world, accounting for more than 400,000 deaths annually. The pattern of suicide and the incidence of suicide vary from country to country. Cultural, religious and social values play some role in suicide. Compared to the West and some of the countries in the Asian region the incidence of suicide is low in Malaysia. A three-year retrospective study of all the autopsies performed at the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur was analysed and the cases that were definitely determined as suicides were further studied. 48.8% of all suicides were ethnic Indians though Indians formed only 8% of the Malaysian population. 38.1% of suicides were Chinese who formed 26% of the population while only 3.6% were Malays, who formed 59% of the population. The preferred methods of suicide were poisoning and hanging. The majority were in the age group 20-40 yr. The study may have missed some cases that would have been wrongly concluded as accidental deaths and a few others where the police would have released the bodies without postmortem examinations.

Matched MeSH terms: Suicide/classification*
Fulltext An analysis of international traveller deaths at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, 1993-2017

Flaherty GT, Caumes E

J Travel Med, 2018 01 01;25(1).
PMID: 29635642 DOI: 10.1093/jtm/tay019

Background: Traumatic deaths, and more particularly suicides, during international travel receive a disproportionately low level of attention in the travel medicine literature. We describe the demographic profile of international travellers whose death occurred at the Cliffs of Moher along the Atlantic seaboard in Ireland.
Methods: Coroners' files for the 25 years between 1993 and 2017 were interrogated. All cases of death on or at the cliffs were examined, and demographic data were extracted, including date of death, gender, age, nationality, whether the victims were alone at the cliffs prior to their death, whether the fall was witnessed, prevailing weather conditions, post-mortem examinations, toxicology reports and inquest verdicts.
Results: Overall, 66 deaths occurred on or at the base of the Cliffs of Moher during the period 1993 through August 2017. In total, 18 (27.3%) of the victims were international visitors to Ireland, including 11 males (61.1%). The mean age of travellers (n = 17) was 34.2 years. Victims were nationals of 12 different countries, with 13 being European nationals. Most deaths occurred in summer (n = 7) or spring (n = 6), with eight deaths (44%) reported at weekends. In total, 15 victims (83.3%) had walked along the cliff path alone. A jump or fall from the cliffs was witnessed in only two cases (11.1%). Post-mortem examinations revealed multiple traumatic injuries consistent with a fall from a height. Four cases had evidence of alcohol intoxication. Suicide or open verdicts were returned in 50% (n = 9) of the cases.
Conclusions: Travelling alone to the site, purchasing one-way tickets, or depositing belongings on the clifftop support the possibility of suicidal intent, while being intoxicated could be a co-factor in suicidal jumps or support the possibility of an accidental fall. This knowledge could help to identify travellers at the greatest risk of death at cliffs.

Matched MeSH terms: Suicide/classification
Suicide and undetermined violent deaths in Malaysia, 1966-1990: evidence for the misclassification of suicide statistics

Maniam T

Asia Pac J Public Health, 1995;8(3):181-5.
PMID: 10050186

Suicide statistics are generally recognised to be unreliable. This study of the reported rates of suicide in West Malaysia between 1966-1990 shows that the mean crude suicide rate between 1966-1974 was 6.1 per 100,000, but had dropped drastically between 1975-1990 to a mean of 1.6 per 100,000. Three lines of evidence are presented to show that this reduction in the suicide rate is due to a systematic misclassification of medically certified suicides as deaths due to undetermined violent deaths (which refers to violent deaths not known to be accidentally or deliberately inflicted). Firstly, the large drop in reported suicide rates corresponds closely to an increase in the rate of deaths due to undetermined violent deaths. There is a highly positive negative correlation between the two rates (coefficient of correlation, r = -0.9). Secondly, the misclassification appears to be mainly a problem with the medically certified deaths which follow the ICD classification. The mean ratio of uncertified to certified suicides before 1975 was 0.8, but from 1975 onwards the mean was 3.1. This is in contrast to the corresponding ratio for deaths due to all accidents which has remained fairly constant throughout these years. Thirdly, the race and sex differences for the rates of undetermined violent deaths are identical to those of suicide. Taking the misclassification into account the corrected suicide rate for West Malaysia is estimated to be between 8-13 per 100,000 since 1982.

Matched MeSH terms: Suicide/classification*

Filters

Please provide feedback to Administrator (afdal@afpm.org.my)

External Links