Method of suicide among police and physicians in Bangladesh

Among the suicide prevention strategies, means restriction shows promises across the culture. Despite its promise, the variations in suicide methods in different cohorts in Bangladesh has not been attempted yet. We aimed to assess the differences in suicide methods between police and physicians in Bangladesh. We identified suicides among police and physicians from news reports published in different media outlets in Bangladesh and extracted the methods of suicides. We analyzed 24 suicides of doctors and 30 suicides of police (a total of 54 suicides) published between 2010 and 2025 (till search date). The mean age of the deceased was 32.8 (±9.6) years, about 60% of the participants were aged between 20-30 years, and 67.4% were married. There was a significant variation in methods of suicides (p=0.002, Fisher’s exact test) between the two groups; overdose was more common among physicians (37.5 vs 13.3%), and gunshot was only found in the police (36.7 vs 0%). Workplace suicides were more common among police, whereas home suicides were more common among physicians (p=<0.001, Fisher’s exact test). Marital disharmony was the common associated factor in both groups, followed by premarital love and familial conflict. This report identified that there are variations in the methods of suicide between the police and doctors, where the police used their firearms. However, due to the quality of data, a judicious judgment is expected while generalizing the study findings.