Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Shah, Ajit

Titel

The relationship between suicide rates and age: an analysis of multinational data from the World Health Organization

Ist Teil von

• International psychogeriatrics, 2007-12, Vol.19 (6), p.1141-1152

Ort / Verlag

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2007

Quelle

Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Background: Suicide rates generally increase with age. With the emergence of studies from several countries without an increase in suicides rates with aging, a cross-national study examining the relationship between suicide rates and age was undertaken. Methods: The relationship between suicide rates and age was examined by ascertaining suicide rates in both sexes in seven age-bands 16–24 years, 25–34 years, 35–44 years, 45–54 years, 55–64 years, 65–74 years and 75+ years, from the World Health Organization website for all the listed countries (N = 62). Results: The main findings were: (i) there was a significant increase in suicide rates with increasing age in males and females in 25 and 27 countries respectively; (ii) there was no significant increase in suicide rates with increasing age in males and females in 31 and 29 countries respectively; (iii) suicide rates were the highest in the younger age-bands in countries without a significant increase in male suicides rates with increasing age; (iv) countries without a significant increase in the suicide rate with increasing age in both sexes, females only and males only demonstrated regional clustering; and, (v) in a small number of countries suicide rates declined with increasing age. Conclusions: Potential explanations for regional and cross-national variations in the relationship between suicide rates and age require further study.