The methods of committing and alcohol intoxication of suicides in Southwestern Croatia from 1996 to 2005.

Alcohol is the psychoactive substance most frequently associated with suicidal behavior. We hypothesized that the level of alcohol intoxication and the choice of specific methods of committing suicide are related. Suicides in the Southwestern Croatia in a 10-year period, especially regarding the method of committing and alcohol intoxication, were analyzed. Ten various methods of committing suicide were recorded. The average blood alcohol concentration at the moment of suicide was 0.68 g/kg with male, and 0.29 g/kg with female victims. The highest blood alcohol levels at the moment of suicide were recorded with suicides by explosive device (with the average blood alcohol concentration of 1.71 g/kg). This especially drastic method of suicide was rare in Croatia in a period prior to the Croatian Independence War (1991-1995), but its incidence significantly increased during the war and in a post-war period. These victims were not chronic alcoholics, but the excessive alcohol consumption occurred as a result of psychiatric disorders as a consequence of war stress they suffered.