Citation

Sun L, Zhang J. Public Health 2015; 129(5): 555-560.

Affiliation

Department of Sociology, State University of New York Buffalo State, Buffalo, NY, USA. Electronic address: zhangj@buffalostate.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.puhe.2015.02.012

PMID

25769349

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To calculate the potential years of life lost (PYLL) due to suicide in China, and analyse the distribution of PYLL by age, sex and region. STUDY DESIGN: The recent Chinese national mortality data (2006-2010) published by the Chinese Ministry of Health and the census data provided by the Chinese National Population Census were used to calculate PYLL due to suicide.

METHODS: Age-, sex- and region-specific PYLL due to suicide in China were determined for victims aged between 1 and 74 years.

RESULTS: Suicide was found to be the 10th leading cause of death in terms of PYLL, and accounted for 3.06% of all PYLL in China. There were three age peaks for PYLL due to suicide in rural areas (20-24, 35-44 and 50-59 years), and two peaks for PYLL due to suicide in urban areas (20-24 and 35-44 years). PYLL due to suicide in rural areas was approximately two-fold higher than PYLL due to suicide in urban areas.

CONCLUSIONS: Suicide is a major public health problem in China. This needs to be controlled, especially in rural areas.

Language: en