Epidemiological features of suicides in Osijek County, Croatia, from 1986 to 2000.

Suicide is a devastating tragedy associated with social, cultural and psychological factors. It takes approximately 1,060 lives in the Republic of Croatia each year. We retrospectively reviewed all cases referred to in the Registrar office and Police Department at Osijek County from 1986 to 2000. The cases of suicide totaled 1,017. All of the cases were analyzed as to age, gender, marital status, occupation, place and time of suicide and method of suicide. The suicide rate for the entire population of the County averaged 20.5/100,000 inhabitants per annum. The age of the suicides ranged from 15 to 92. The male to female ratio was 2.1:1. The highest suicide incidence was among the age groups from 55 to 64 (19.27%), followed by age group from 45 to 54 (16.12%). The lowest suicide incidence was among the age group < 19 (3.4%). The incidence in the group 85 > years was also low (2.06%). The suicide was frequent among people who live alone: single, widowed, divorced (47.29%). Eighty percent of victims were found in surroundings familiar to them. These included various premises of their residences. The retired, the laborers and the unemployed (67.36%) were predominant among suicide victims. The most common methods of suicide were hanging (43%), followed by firearms (24%). No correlation was found with the day of the week or the month of the year. The study showed a slightly increased rate of suicide, from 21 cases at the beginning of the investigation (in 1986) to 22.3/100,000 population fifteen years later (in 2000).