DEFINITE AND UNDETERMINED FORENSIC DIAGNOSES OF SUICIDE AMONG IMMIGRANTS IN SWEDEN

A total of 707 cases of violent death (suicide, undetermined mode or a ccident) occurring in 1990 were investigated at the Department of Fore nsic Medicine in Stockholm. The catchment area of the Department inclu des about 1.9 million people. Fourteen percent of the population in th e area are immigrants. The largest single immigrant group was the 91,0 15 Finnish-born inhabitants, who represented 33%, of the overall immig rant population. Thirty percent of all undetermined deaths and 20% of the suicides were among people born outside Sweden. A significant over representation of the largest immigrant group (Finnish-born) was found in both the definite and undetermined suicide categories. There was a lso an overall overrepresentation of immigrants among the undetermined cases and a trend towards overrepresentation among definite suicides. Also, there was a significant overall overrepresentation of immigrant s in the total cases of undetermined and definite suicide. Some psycho social factors found predominant among the immigrant sample were socia l isolation, low social class and poor social network. The findings in this study indicates that immigrant status should be considered as a risk factor for suicide in Sweden. Previous reports on the high suicid e rates among immigrants in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and the U nited States suggest that the overrepresentation of immigrants found i n our study could represent a worldwide epidemiological trend related to voluntary and forced migration. Possible hypotheses that could expl ain this phenomenon are discussed.