Table 2 Estimates of suicide rates and the contribution of pesticides to suicide in India
From: The global distribution of fatal pesticide self-poisoning: Systematic review
Author | Years covered (no. suicides) | Setting | Estimated total (all methods) suicide rate | Estimates of the proportion of suicides (or episodes of self-harm) due to pesticides |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Nandi et al. [89] | 1976–7 (n = 101) | Districts in West Bengal (rural) | Daspur area: 29 per 100,000 | 58% due to endrin (a pesticide) |
| Â | Â | Â | Chandrakona area: 5 per 100,000 | 37% due to endrin |
Bannerjee et al. [90] | 1978 (n = 58) | Villages in Deganga, West Bengal (rural) | 43 per 100,000 | 93% suicides due to self-poisoning ("almost exclusively)" organophosphorus pesticides |
Shukla et al. [91] | 1986–7 (n = 187) | Jhansi City, Uttar Pradesh (urban) | 29 per 100,000 | 10% (insecticides and rat poison). |
Bhatia et al. [92] | Not stated (n = 55) | Delhi (urban and rural areas) | - | Only 13% of suicides had self-poisoned (all substances) |
Joseph et al. [64] | 1994–9 (n = 609) | Villages in Kaniyambadi (rural), Tamil Nadu | 95 per 100,000 | 45% self-poisoning (all substances). 40% of the suicides in 15–19 year olds used pesticides in 1992–2001 [93] |
Lalwani et al. [94] | 1991–2000 (n = 222) | New Delhi (urban) | - | 10–18 year olds: poisoning accounted for 49% of male and 37% female suicides. Pesticides were commonest poisons recorded. |
Gururaj et al. [95] | 2001–2 (n = 269) | Bangalore (urban) | - | 28% (male) and 19% (female) suicides were self-poisoning (all substances). |
Kumar et al. [96] | 1994–2004 (n = 441) | Mannipal (rural) | - | >55% insecticides |
Prasad et al. [65] | 2000–2002 (n = 306) | Villages in Kaniyambadi (rural), Tamil Nadu | 92 per 100,000 | Organophosphorus pesticides accounted for 40.5% of suicides |
Mohanty et al. [97] | 2000–2003 (n = 588) | Berhampur (rural and urban) | - | 30.6% of all suicides were self-poisoning (>70% used pesticides) |
Bose et al. [66] | 1998–2004 (n = 638) | Villages in Kaniyambadi (rural), Tamil Nadu | 82 per 100,000 | 40% poisoning (majority pesticides) |
Sharma et al. [98] | 1996–2005 (n = 1421) | Chandigarh (rural and urban) | - | Aluminium phosphide accounts for 24% of all suicides; organophosphorus and organochlorine products 10% |
Gajalakshmi et al. [67] | 1997–8 (n = 3,249) | Villpuram district (rural), Tamil Nadu | 62 per 100,000 | 53% self-poisoning ("generally involved agrochemicals") |
Kumar P et al. [99] | 2001 and 2005 (n = 200) | Six districts in rural Punjab | 12.4 per 100,000 (2001) 13.1 per 100,000 (2005) | Pesticide/poison used in 77% (154/200) suicides studied. |