Abstract

Background: Suicide is a major public health issue and a leading cause of premature mortality worldwide. Assessing suicide risk remains challenging due to multifactorial risks. Objective. The aim of the study was to present ten-year trends in suicides in the Zenica-Doboj Canton and to describe the methods of suicide by gender, age, and year of occurrence, with the goal of better understanding this complex and deviant form of behavior. Methods: In the article has been included a retrospective analysis of suicide data collected from the suicide reporting form in the Zenica-Doboj Canton, obtained from the Institute for Health and Food Safety Zenica for the period 2015–2024. Results: Resuzlts are based on 147 processed cases of suicide over a ten-year period. The distribution of suicides by age group was: under 1 year: 0 (0%), 1–4: 0 (0%), 5–9: 0 (0%), 10–14: 0 (0%), 15–19: 4 (3%), 20–29: 16 (11%), 30–39: 13 (9%), 40–49: 20 (15%), 50–59: 26 (18%), 60–64: 27 (19%), 65–69: 9 (6%), 70–79: 20 (14%), 80+: 12 (8%). The average number of suicides per age group was x̄ = 11.3. Yearly suicide cases: 2015: 19 (12.9%), 2016: 19 (12.9%), 2017: 22 (14.9%), 2018: 29 (19.7%), 2019: 29 (19.7%), 2020: 8 (5.4%), 2021: 1 (0.68%), 2023: 0 (0%), 2024: 0 (0%). The average number of suicides per year was x̄ = 14.7. The gender distribution was 73% male and 27% female, with a male-to-female ratio of 2.7:1. The most common method was intentional self-harm by hanging, strangulation, and suffocation; 93 (63.2%). Conclusion. Understanding suicide trends, mechanisms, and methods in the Zenica-Doboj Canton can help in the development of early-prevention programs and prevention strategies, as well as in better understanding the contributing factors and suicidal individuals’ attitudes that lead to such fatal decisions.

Key words: suicide trends, suicide methods, gender differences, public health.