During the investigated period, 2000e2007, 4249 suicides were reported in Slovenia, and 1061 autopsies of
suicide deaths from the central, northwestern, and southwestern parts of Slovenia were conducted at the
Institute of Forensic Medicine in Ljubljana. To identify a possible role of alcohol use in the selection of
suicide method blood samples were collected during medicolegal autopsies of suicide victims in order to
establish their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level at the time of death. The study group consisted of
844 suicide victims that used violent suicide methods and 174 suicide victims that used non-violent suicide
methods. Out of the group with violent suicide methods 184 (21.8%) suicide victims by partial hanging and
112 (13.3%) suicide victims by complete hanging were identified. The average age was higher in the group
of suicide victims by partial hanging than in the group of suicide victims by complete hanging (p < 0.001;
T¼3653; df¼294). The mean BACwas higher (T¼1.604; df¼278; p