epidemiological survey of suicide in rural areas

objective: the prevalence rate of suicide among rural population in karaj and savojbolagh district for a period of 5 years (1991-95) have been studied. method: the data collected through the questionnaires, filled by health workers settled in 44 health houses in savojbolagh, and 21 health houses in karaj city. the population of these two districts were nearly 76804, and 26577 individuals respectively. findings: the results obtained from this study indicate that over the five years period, 14 out of 7530 recorded death in savojbolagh, and 3 out of 495 in karaj, were reported as suicide. it is investigated that the rate of suicide outbreak among 100000 population in karaj is 11.3%, and in savojbolagh is 18.2%. the average age of suicidal individuals obtained from data is 31.5 years old. seven individuals (41.2%) were male and 8 of them (58.8%) were female. most of the cases had average socio-economical status, and they were either illiterate or had poor educational background. the attempts mainly caused by family crisis, 8 cases (47.1 %) had mental disorders in personal history, women mainly had self burning. and men had hung themselves. a great number of the attempts occured in summer and in the morning hours.