title: Suicide and Fire: A 20-Year Study of Self-Immolation Death in Sousse, Tunisia.
abstract: Self-immolation is a self-destructive conduct described since antiquity. Its frequency is variable from one country to another and it is a real public health problem in parts of the world. In Tunisia, after the 2011 revolution the problem of self-immolation protest has been highly publicized giving the impression of an increase in this phenomenon. This is a retrospective analysis of all fatal self-immolation cases, collected over a 20-year period (1996-2015) at the Forensic Medicine Department of the Farhat Hached University Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia. A total of 41 cases were collected, of which 23 were men (56%). The mean age was 36.1 years. Prior to 2011, 78.9% of the victims of self-immolation were women and after 2011, 86.4% were men. The rural origin of the victims was found in 56.25% of the cases. History of psychiatric illness was found in four individuals. The self-immolation took place in the victims' homes in 19 cases (46.3%). It came after a conjugal or family conflict in 14 cases (34.1%) and it is of protest character in 8 cases (19.5%). This study confirmed the increasing frequency of self-immolation in Tunisia after the 2011 revolution and noted a change in the victims' profiles.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Legal Medicine, Farhat Hached University Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia; †Department of Legal Medicine, Ibn El jazzar University Hospital, Kairouan, Tunisia; and ‡Department of Hospital Hygiene, Farhat Hached University Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Maher
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jedidi
authors.forename: Mohamed Cherif
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: El Khal
authors.forename: Souheil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mlayeh
authors.forename: Tasnim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masmoudi
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahjoub
authors.forename: Mohamed Yassine
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Brahem
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ben Dhiab
authors.forename: Majed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zemni
authors.forename: Mohamed Kamel
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Souguir
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002056:Burns / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D005390:Fires / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014416:Tunisia; D055815:Young Adult