forms of self-immolation in iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Context: self-immolation is one of the most violent methods of suicide and is considered a psychosocial problem. objectives: the purpose of this study was to investigate the forms of self-immolation in iran using a systematic review and meta-analysis method. data sources: in this study, seven papers published from 1999 to january 2020 were selected using keywords such as self-immolation and iran in sid, google scholar, pubmed, web of science (isi), scopus, and elsevier databases. study selection: study selection was done by two independent researchers. the results of studies were pooled using the freeman-tukey double arcsine transformation method. the heterogeneity among studies was checked using the q-test and i2 index. data extraction: data were extracted using a data extraction form. results: the total sample size was 9,470. the mortality rate in self-immolation subjects was estimated at 64% (95% ci: 0.56 - 0.73). the most important means of self-immolation was oil [89% (95% ci: 82% - 96%). winter had the highest numbers of self-immolation [29% (95% ci: 22% - 37%). meta-regression showed no significant correlation between the mortality of self-immolation and the year of study. conclusions: to reduce self-immolation, easy access to oil must be restricted in families, and high-risk people should have access to psychology consultation.