title: Hanging deaths in Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
abstract: A retrospective study was carried out on 133 suicidal hanging cases autopsied at Forensic Medicine Center in Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (from 2003 to 2007). Of these cases, 115 (86.46%) were males and 18 females (13.54%), with an average male:female ratio of 6.38. There was an increasing trend of hanging among ages between 21 and 50 years (88.7%), and the fourth decade had the highest number of victims (about 36%) between all age groups. Local Saudi nationals comprised a small proportion of cases (21 persons, 15.8%), while the others were foreigners working in the Kingdom with an Indian precedence (63 persons, 47.4%), followed by other 11 different nationalities representing 36.8% of the cases. The peak of these suicidal acts was in June and the least was in February and December. Postmortem blood alcohol was found in 6.76% of cases, amphetamine in 3% (4 cases), and cannabinoids in 2.25% (3 cases). About 75% of the deceased persons were male laborers (100 cases), 11.27% were female housemaids (15 cases), and only 13 persons were unemployed (9.77%). Previous history of psychological illnesses was documented in 19 cases (14.28%) and stressful family problems in 6% of cases. There were previous suicidal attempts in only one case. Suicidal note was found in only seven cases. In conclusion, there was a decreasing trend of suicide by hanging in Dammam from 39 cases in 2003 to 17 cases in 2007, with a rate of 0.85/100,000 population in the last year. This was inconsistent with the overall increase in suicide rate in Dammam when compared to the previous decade.
authors.affiliation: Forensic Medicine Center, King Khaled Street, Dammam, Eastern Province, 6668/31176, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Osama Mohammed
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Al Madni
authors.forename: Magdy Abdel Azim
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kharoshah
authors.forename: Mamdouh Kamal
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Zaki
authors.forename: Sherien Salah
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ghaleb
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000662:Amphetamines / Q000097:blood; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000401:mortality*; D002186:Cannabinoids / Q000097:blood; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000097:blood; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood; D054541:Family Conflict; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D019838:Neck Injuries / Q000401:mortality*; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012621:Seasons; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends
chemical_list: D000662:Amphetamines; D002186:Cannabinoids; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol