SAFETYLIT WEEKLY UPDATE

We compile citations and summaries of about 400 new articles every week.
RSS Feed

HELP: Tutorials | FAQ
CONTACT US: Contact info

Search Results

Journal Article

Citation

Shah A. J. Inj. Violence Res. 2011; 3(2): 80-84.

Affiliation

University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom and Consultant Psychiatrist, West London Mental Health NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom. ajit.shah@wlmht.nhs.uk.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences)

DOI

10.5249/jivr.v3i2.64

PMID

21498970

PMCID

PMC3134928

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Suicide rates generally increase with age. A recent cross-national study, using one-year cross-sectional data on suicide rates identified regional and cross-national patterns for elderly suicide rates. However, findings from studies using one-year cross-sectional data on suicide rates may be open to bias because of random year on year fluctuations in elderly suicide rates. METHODS: One-year average of suicide rates for both sexes in the age-bands 65-74 and 75+ years were calculated from data on suicide rates for five consecutive years ascertained from the World Health Organization. Cross-national variations were examined by segregating different countries into four quartiles of suicide rates. RESULTS: There was wide cross-national variation in elderly suicide rates. Elderly suicide rates were the lowest in Caribbean and Arabic/Islamic countries, and the highest in central and eastern European, countries emerging from the former Soviet Union, some oriental and some west European countries. CONCLUSIONS: The regional and cross-national patterns for elderly suicide rates observed in this study were almost identical to a similar earlier study using one-year cross-sectional data on suicide rates. This suggests that the findings of both studies were accurate and robust, and potential explanations for the observed cross-national variations in elderly suicide rates requires further study.


Language: en

NEW SEARCH


All SafetyLit records are available for automatic download to Zotero & Mendeley
Print