Suicides in East Berlin from 1980 to 1989

In the analysed period from 1980 to 1989, 3.480 suicides (= 34.6%) were among the 10.064 corpses admitted to the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Humboldt University in Berlin. The share of men who committed suicide was higher than the share of women with the average ratio being 1.4:1. The preferred suicide method in men was hanging and in women drug intoxication. The decrease of the formerly common carbon monoxide poisoning is attributable to the switch from town gas to natural gas. Autopsies showed that only about one third of the individuals who had committed suicide had been under the influence of alcohol at the time of death. In most cases the suicides were committed in the suicides' own flat. It also turned out that there was a seasonal peak of suicides in spring.