Abstract

Objectives: Suicide is a public health problem in many countries around the world and is one of the top ten causes of death internationally. We performed a retrospective study from 2014 to 2018 to study the patterns of suicide in Kuwait.

Study design: After reviewing files from the General department of Criminal Evidence, we collected a total of 297 in our study period that were signed out as suicide fatalities.

Methods: The relationship between demographic factors (e.g. age, sex, residential area) and suicides were studied using various statistical methodologies.

Results: The majority of the 297 samples were in the age range of 19-35 years (180; 60.6%) and 36-65 years (107; 36%). Males constituted the majority of cases (241; 81.1%). The sample consisted of 20 different nationalities. More than half of the 297 samples were Indian (179; 60.2%), whereas Kuwaitis were a minority (22; 7.4%). Hanging was the preferred method of suicide in our study population (269; 90.6%). The governorate of Ahmadi had the highest death toll (89; 30%), followed by Farwaniyah (77; 25.9%) and Jahra (64; 21.5%).

Conclusion: The government of the State of Kuwait needs to target the group that has the largest number of fatalities by increasing education and awareness of employers and employees to the danger of this condition and the driving factors that lead people to it.

Keywords: Kuwait; Public health; Suicide; Unnatural deaths.