Health Care use by Victims of Charcoal-Burning Suicide in Taiwan

In this letter to the editor, the authors report on health care use patterns in Taiwanese individuals who died by suicide by charcoal burning. Compared with persons who used hanging or poisoning as the method of suicide, charcoal-burning victims had fewer health care contacts & less frequent recorded psychiatric diagnoses. Charcoal-burning victims also had a lower likelihood of hospital admission in the past year. Prevention strategies are briefly discussed as are study limitations. (5 refs.)