Suicide is an important public health problem worldwide. A retrospective study from March 2001 to March 2007 examined some characteristics of cases of suicide and attempted suicide in the Islamic Republic of Iran based on the health system database of 41 medical universities. A total of 53 100 cases of suicide and attempted suicide were analysed. Just over half were among women (55.0%). The most usual method of attempted suicide among both males and females was drug overdose. Self-burning was more frequent in females (5.8%) while hanging (4.5%), cutting (2.8%) and firearms (0.5%) were more common in males. There were 3883 (7.3%) completed (fatal) suicides. Hanging had the highest case fatality rate (76.5%) and drug overdose the lowest (2.3%). Older people had a higher mortality rate. Suicide and attempted suicides increased from 8.3 per 100 000 population in 2001 to 19.4 Au total, 53 100 cas de suicides et de tentatives de suicide ont été analysés. À peine plus de la moitié concernait des femmes (55,0 %). La méthode la plus fréquemment utilisée des tentatives de suicide chez les hommes comme chez les femmes était une surdose médicamenteuse. L'immolation par le feu était plus fréquente chez les femmes (5,8 %) alors que les recours à la pendaison (4,5 %), au sectionnement (2,8 %) et aux armes à feu (0,5 %) étaient plus nombreux chez les hommes. Dans l'étude, 3883 tentatives de suicide ont été mortelles (7,3 %). La pendaison était associée au taux le plus élevé de décès (76,5 %) et la surdose médicamenteuse, au taux le plus faible (2,3 %

Aims:Suicide is an important public health problem worldwide. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology of suicide and attempted suicide in Iran.Methods:A retrospective study from March 2001 to March 2008 examined some characteristics of cases of suicide and attempted suicide in the Islamic Republic of Iran based on the health system database of 41 medical universities.Results:A total of 53 100 cases of suicide and attempted suicide were analysed. Just over half were among women (55.0%). The most favoured method of attempted suicide among both males and females was drug overdose. Self-burning was more frequent in females (5.8%) while hanging (4.5%), cutting (2.8%) and firearms (0.5%) were more common in males. There were 3883 (7.3%) completed (fatal) suicides. Hanging had the highest case fatality rate (76.5%) and drug overdose the lowest (2.3%). Older people had a higher mortality rate.Conclusion:Suicide and attempted suicides increased from 8.3 per 100 000 population in 2001 to 19.4 in 2005, then declined to 16.3 in 2008.