title: Self-immolation and its adverse life-events risk factors: results from an Iranian population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite considerable loss of life by deliberate self-burning in low and middle-income countries, few scholars have examined psychiatric factors such as adverse life events that may be related to self-immolation.
  
  
  METHODS
  This case-control study investigated adverse life-events as risk factors for self-immolation patients admitted to a burn center serving the western region of Iran. Variables investigated included the following adverse life-events: unplanned pregnancy, infertility, homelessness, financial hardship, problems with friends, intimate relationship break-up , school or university failure, anxiety about school/university performance, problems at work, personal history of suicide attempts, family history of suicide attempts, individual history of mental disorders, and malignant disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Financial hardship (OR=3.35, 95% CI=1.19-9.90), intimate relationship break-up (OR=5.45, 95% CI=1.20-11.99), and personal history of suicide attempts (OR=7.00, 95% CI=1.38-35.48) were associated with increased risk of self-immolation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that financial hardship, intimate relationship break-ups, and personal history of suicide attempts are risk factors for self-immolation. Other variables studied did not play a role as individually protective or risk factors for self-immolation. Further study is needed to substantiate findings of this study and direct research toward tailoring culturally sensitive, empirically-supported interventions for prevention of self-immolation.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahmadi
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Schwebel
authors.forename: Shahrzad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bazargan-Hejazi
authors.forename: Kobra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Taliee
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Imam Ali Hospital, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran. Email: dr_karim@kums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Hosein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karim
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D002056:Burns / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005390:Fires; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data