Alcoholism and suicidality factors among indigenous population of territories given the same status as Far North

Aim: to identify cause-and-effect interrelationships between suicidal behavior and demographic and social-psychological factors among population of Siberia living in the territories given the same status as Far North. Materials and Methods. The object of study is medical documentation for registration of cases of death: medical death certificates for 5-year period (n=1501), materials of exemption to institute criminal proceedings in connection with ascertainment of fact of suicide (n=117), acts of postmortem forensic medical examination (n=104). Cases of suicides were investigated in two neighboring territories given the same status as Far North: Kargasok and Parabel'. Indices of suicidality for 2008 - 2013 were used as analytical tool. Results. Study of suicidal behavior and risk factors for its formation among population of territories given the same status as Far North resulted in findings that ratio of completed and attempted suicides was extremely low - 1:1.63. That can be explained by extremely high index of suicidality -94.4 points (per 100,000). Among representatives of the indigenous ethnos (the Narym Selkups) number of completed suicides exceeds number of attempted suicides, i.e. suicidal intentions were resolved by more radical method in comparison with other nationalities. Predictors of suicidal behavior among population of northern territories of the Tomsk Region were first of all individual-psychological factors. Unemployment, low level of education are significant factors, but unemployed and poorly educated suiciders abused alcohol, inter vivos they had signs of alcohol addiction, mental retardation, personality disorders, “dual” psychiatric diagnoses. Of predictors of suicidal behavior among population the first rank place was occupied by alcohol addiction. Among suiciders there is a significant proportion of the Selkups - persons of the indigenous ethnicity. Conclusion. Analysis of frequency indices of completed suicides among population of Siberia living in the territories given the same status as Far North showed ultrahigh level of suicides - index of suicidality in some years (2008-2013) exceeded 90 points. The Selkups - persons of indigenous ethnicity - prevail among suiciders. The Selkups make up to 3.85% of general population and up to 8.3% of suiciders in the Kargasok territory of the Tomsk Region. In the Parabel territory the share of the Selkups in the general population is significantly smaller (0.99%), but their specific weight among suiciders is multiply higher - 10.3%, which highlights predictive significance of study of ethnic and cultural features within one of small populations of the North Siberia.