Abstract: Objective To analyze the relationship between the suicide method and the sex, age, education background and cause of suicide to provide reference for the forensic identification of suicide. Methods After scene investigation, external body examination, autopsy and case investigation, 124 identified suicide cases which happened in recent three years in Wuhua district in Kunming were collected. Analytical methods as chi-square test and descriptive statistics were performed by SPSS 22.0. Results In all the suicide cases, male to female ratio was 1.53∶1. The suicide methods were mainly fatal fall, hanging and drowning. The ratio of local to non-native residents was 1∶1. The suicide rate in the people with primary school or junior middle school education level was highest. The group of >10-50 years tended to choose fatal fall suicide and people over 60 years were more likely to choose hanging. People with different academic background tended to choose fatal fall suicide. The suicide methods as fatal fall and hanging were chosen because of mental and physical diseases and economic problems, while the suicides with emotional problems were more likely to choose fatal fall and poisoning. Conclusion Suicide belongs to a kind of complex cases. For the cases of suspected suicide, complete exploration and overall consideration should be done to determine the nature of cases based on comprehensive analysis of all the influence factors.

Key words: forensic pathology, suicide, manner of suicide, case analysis