Objectives: Limited research has been undertaken on suicide in
developing countries. This paper aims to investigate characteristics
of suicide attempts in Hamadan district of Iran.
Methods: A prospective study was conducted in all university
hospitals in the Hamadan district of Iran and patients admitted
for attempted suicides were included. All cases were assessed by
psychiatrists and visited by two trained interns of Medicine.
Results: The incidence rate per 100,000 persons of attempted
suicides was 228.6 for males and 263.1 for females; moreover, 344.9
for rural areas and 222.7 for urban areas. The suicide attempt was
the highest in the 15 to 24 age category for both sexes and regions.
Conclusions: Suicide is a complex, long-term outcome that
requires multifaceted theoretical constructs for the appropriate
study of its antecedents. Findings of this study along with other
studies in Iran revealed that unemployed men, housewives, and
rural women, high-school students, and those with a low level of
education were at higher risk of suicidal behaviors.