Epidemiological Study of Self-Immolated Patients Referring To Velayat Burn and Reconstructive Surgery Center of Rasht

Introduction: self-immolation is a deadly and painful issue that incurs high costs socially and individually. people who self immolate are hardlycured and they will undergo serious mental and physical complications. this study aimed to determinethe epidemiological distribution of self-immolated patients referring to velayat burn and reconstructive surgery center inrasht, iran.methods: this study was conducted based on a descriptive and cross-sectional design in velayat hospital in rasht, guilanprovince. the sample included all cases of self-immolation referring to velayat hospital from the beginning of april 2009to the end of march 2017.the total number of self-immolated patients referred to hospital and registered was 96individuals. data were extracted from patients’ records using a researcher-made checklist. descriptive statistics, such asmean, standard deviation, and analytical tests such as poisson and multivariate logistic regression have been used for dataanalysis. data were completely analyzed using stata-se software (version 13.1).results: according to the results, 51% of the patients were female, and 67% of the cases were married; moreover, 43% ofthe females were housewives, and 42 % of the patients had a history of mental illness. it is worth mentioning that 91% ofthe cases had no history of self-immolation. the most common reasons for self-immolation has been mental disorders(38.5%) and family problems (37.5%). the frequency of the rate of self-immolation has been almost equal in urban andrural areas, whereas the majority of the cases were observed in rasht, talesh, and lahijan. in total, 60% of the patientsdied. the mean±sd age, total body surface area (tbsa), and hospitalization period were 37.5±1.5 years, 61.3±2.8, and9.3±8 days, respectively. analysis of regressions shows that the mortality rate has a direct and significant relationship withage and tbsa. moreover, hospitalization time has a direct relationship with gender (i.e., male), tbsa, history of mentaldisease, previous records of suicide, and marital status (i.e., being married). however, it has a negative relationship withage and education.conclusions: the level of burns is high in patients who are self-immolating, and mental disorders and familial problemshave been the main reason for it. therefore, although the frequency of self-immolation rate is lower, compared to othersuicide methods, these small groups of patients need special care due to the high rate of mortality.