Hekimoglu Y.Esen Melez I.Canturk N.Erkol Z.Z.Dizdar M.G.Canturk G.Melez D.O.Kir Z.2024-07-222024-07-22201614726874http://akademikarsiv.cbu.edu.tr:4000/handle/123456789/15845Background: Female suicide is an important problem not only for women but for public health in general. Methods: Autopsy reports from the Van Chief Public Prosecutor's Office from 2005 to 2011 were reviewed retrospectively in order to analyse female deaths from suicide. Results: Sixty-six female suicide cases were recorded during 2005-2011. The mean age of the cases was 22.64 (sd = 10.09) years, and nine were below the age of 15. The most common method of suicide was hanging (44 cases, 66.7%). Five (7.6%) of the cases were under treatment for depression, and 12 (18.2%) cases had a previous suicide attempt. Conclusions: Cultural suppression of females and prevention of their socialization in enclave societies are risk factors for female suicides. The number of female suicide attempts, especially recurring attempts, should be reduced via psychiatric scanning, follow-up sessions and therapy for high-risk individuals. © 2016 Hekimoglu et al.EnglishAll Open Access; Gold Open Access; Green Open AccessAdolescentAdultAgedChildCultural CharacteristicsDeathFemaleHumansMarriageMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesRisk FactorsSex DistributionSuicideTurkeyadolescentadultageagedArticleautopsychildcultural factorcultural suppressiondepressiondescriptive studydomestic violenceemployment statusfemalefemale suicidehanginghumanmajor clinical studymarriagemedical historymiddle agedretrospective studyrisk factorseasonal variationsocial classsocial isolationsocial statussuicidesuicide attemptTurkey (republic)types of studydeathepidemiologyethnologypsychologysex ratiostatistics and numerical datasuicideTurkeyArticle10.1186/s12905-016-0299-1