Published online Mar 18, 2016. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v7.i3.182
Peer-review started: June 1, 2015
First decision: July 10, 2015
Revised: October 16, 2015
Accepted: December 13, 2015
Article in press: December 15, 2015
Published online: March 18, 2016
Suicide as a cause of death, affects every health system, and is a particular problem in heavily urbanised states and low and middle income countries (which account for 75% of suicide deaths). The World Health Organisation records that 800000 commit suicide each year, representing 1.4% of annual global deaths, and that suicide was the second leading cause of death in 15-29 year-olds across the world in 2012. In the United Kingdom, jumping from height accounts for 3%-5% of the 140000 suicide attempts annually is similar incidence to the rest of Europe. The Medline and EMBASE were interrogated for studies examining suicide caused by jumping from height. Manual screening of titles and abstracts was used to identify relevant works before data was extracted and systematically reviewed to identify the characteristics of a patient who jumps from height to commit suicide, delineate their patterns of injury and explore techniques that could be used to limit its occurrence. Emergency departments receiving patients who jump from a height need to have an understanding of the potential pathology that is likely to be encountered in order to deliver multidisciplinary, efficient and timely care in order that the impact of this devastating physical, psychological and social problem could modified to the benefit of the patients involved.
Core tip: This paper examines the incidence of injuries following a deliberate fall from height, and argues that there are predictable patterns of injury following this mechanism.