Citation

Chang CM, Liao SC, Chiang HC, Chen YY, Tseng KC, Chau YL, Chang HJ, Lee MB. Br. J. Psychiatry 2009; 195(5): 459-460.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, No.7 Chung San South Road, Taipei, Taiwan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Royal College of Psychiatry)

DOI

10.1192/bjp.bp.108.053728

PMID

19880939

Abstract

All suicides (n=12 497) in Taiwan in 2001-2004 were identified from mortality records retrieved from the National Health Insurance Database. Altogether, 95.1% of females and 84.9% of males had been in contact with healthcare services in the year before their death. Females received significantly more diagnoses of psychiatric disorders (48.0% v. 30.2%) and major depression (17.8% v. 7.4%) than males. Such differences were consistent across different medical settings where contact with hospital-based non-psychiatric physicians was as common as with general practitioners (GPs). However, diagnoses of psychiatric disorders were underdiagnosed in both genders.

Language: en