Characteristics of suicide among diabetes patients: a population based study of suicide victims in Northern Finland

Objective: Recent case reports of insulin suicides have raised the need to study in detail the suicides among diabetes patients.

Methods: The data consisted of 2489 suicides (2030 men, 459 women) in Northern Finland during 1988 to 2010. The suicide victims with hospital-treated type 1 (n=27) or type 2 diabetes (n=51) were compared with those without diabetes (n=2411).

Results: Of all suicide victims, 3.1% had diabetes (34.6% type 1 and 65.4% type 2 diabetes). 24.0% of victims with type 2 diabetes were under the influence of alcohol when they died from suicide, while the proportion was 44.4% in type 1 diabetes and 46.6% in victims without diabetes (P=0.007). Compared to those with type 2 diabetes or without diabetes, victims with type 1 diabetes had suffered more commonly from depression (44.4%, 23.5%, 19.9%, respectively) (P=0.006) and chosen self-poisoning as suicide method (48.1%, 31.4%, and 18.0%) (P<0.001). In victims with type 1 diabetes insulin as a suicide method covered half of the self-poisoning cases, while the proportion in type 2 diabetes was 13%.

Conclusion: We suggest that physicians who treat diabetes patients should evaluate co-occurring depression and substance abuse, both of which are major risk factors of suicide.