In this paper we report the incidence of suicide committed in the province of Cádiz during 1999-2003. The rate of suicides per 100.000 inhabitants was 4.63 with a proportion of 4.37 men for every woman. The marital status of those of either sex who committed suicide is analyzed, as well as their average age. Significant differences of age was found between men (51.36 years) and women (56.22 years). The distribution of suicides by month and day of the week is also analyzed, the greatest incidence of suicides occurring during the winter months (December, January, February) and, in general, on Saturday. Hanging, the most employed method (46.38%), followed by jumping from a height (25.09%) and the use of toxic substances (11.78%). 55.89% of those who committed suicide had a psychiatric history, having been diagnosed a depressive syndrome in 63.94% of the cases. 14.82% of suicide victims had made previous suicide attempts.

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RESUMENNumerosos autores recomiendan la realización de análisis toxicológico, prácticamente en todos los casos forenses, especialmente, cuando tras el examen macroscópico no aparece suficientemente aclarada la causa de la muerte.La ausencia de lesiones patognomónicas en la mayoría de las intoxicaciones avalan la recomendación anterior; sin embargo, en algunos casos los hallazgos en la autopsia son indicativos del agente causal. Así vemos como la coloración rojo cereza de las livideces cadavéri-cas van a ser muy sugestivas de intoxicación por monóxi-do de carbono o cianuro.Palabras clave: Intoxicacion por gases, monóxido de carbono, suicidio. Cuad Med Forense 2007; 13(47):65-69 ABSTRACTSeveral authors recommend to perform a toxicological analysis in practically every forensic autopsy, specifically when the macroscopical examination does not reveal sufficiently the cause of death.The absence of pathognomonic findings in the majority of poisonings support this recommendation. However; in some cases autopsy findings are indicative of the causative agent. For instance, the red cherry coloration from livor mortis are suggestive of a carbon monoxide or cyanide poisoning.

The death by hanging or suspension is generally suicidal and with less frequency accidental. The homicidal hanging is unusual, being described like mechanism to disguise the true cause of the death. The presence of vital signs allow us to distinguish between a vital suspension and another postmortal. In this paper, we are going to present images of some signs of hanging discussing its vital origin. The standardized autopsy of the neck, sometimes, does not show macroscopic signs of vitality, reason why we will have to perform histopathological studies. This is the reason why we include in this section (mainly macroscopic) microscopical images.

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