Self-Inflicted Burn Injuries in Kermanshah: A Public Health Problem

Background: around 30% of suicides are committed by burning. the problem of self-immolation remains a crisis even after population based interventions and still a considerable proportion of admissions of burn ward is belonged to suicide cases. objectives: this study was designed to present the epidemiologic profile of these patients and compare completed self-immolation and attempted ones. patients and methods: all patients with self-immolation admitted to the burn ward of imam khomeini hospital of kermanshah were entered. the study period was from 20th march 2011 to 21th march 2012. a trained person was responsible to fill the forms by asking victims or their families. multiple logistic regressions was applied to identify mortality risk and protective factors. chi-squared test was used to compare attempted cases with complete ones. results: in total, 164 cases of self-immolation were admitted (30% of total admission to the burn center). one-hundred and forty-two were female and the median age was 25 (iqr: 21-36). the most common used substance for burning was kerosene (85%). the commonest motive of self-immolation was sadness, followed by conflict with spouse. overall mortality rate was 38.1%. tbsa was the most important determinant of death when adjusted for age and sex. odds ratio of death was increased by 3 percent for each percent increase of tbsa (p < 0.0001). there were no statistically significant differences between the attempted cases and completed ones except for tbsa, which was higher among completed cases (p < 0.0001). conclusions: suicide is a tragic way to end life. as the most common motive was sadness, it is recommended to implement mental health programs and educate problem-solving skills to population, particularly young housekeeper girls.