Self-Burns in Fars Province, Southern Iran.
BACKGROUND
The alarming incidence of self- burning provoked to set up a multidisciplinary preventive program to decrease the incidence and complications of this harmful issue. This study investigated the incidence and the preventive measures in self-burn in Fars Province, southern Iran.


METHODS
This study was a longitudinal prospective design on trend of self-inflicted burn injuries in Fars province after setting up a regional multidisciplinary preventive plan (2009-2012).


RESULTS
From 18862 admitted patients, 388 (2%) committed self-burning. While the incidence showed a constant decrease in proportion of suicidal cases among all admitted patients (2.5% to 1.6%). The mean age of self-burning victims ranged from 28.3±10.8 to 30.3±11.7 years. The female victims comprised 67.4% of all suicidal burn patients (Female to male ratio: 2.18). The leading causes of suicide commitment were familial conflicts (75.6%) and psychological problems (16.7%).


CONCLUSIONS
It is crucial to continue the regional preventive programs and pave the way to set up national, and even international collaborations to alleviate relevant financial, social, cultural and infrastructural difficulties in order to have lower incidence for this dramatic issue.
Shiraz Burn Research Center, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
Ali Akbar
AA
Mohammadi
School of Public Health, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran.
Hamid Reza
HR
Tohidinik
Shiraz Burn Research Center, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
Mitra
M
Zardosht
Shiraz Burn Research Center, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
Seyed Morteza
SM
Seyed Jafari
Incidence; Iran; Self-burn; Trend