The contribution of elderly suicide rates of the three consituent countries of the United Kingdom to the overall national suicide rate

SummaryThe purpose of this study was to compare epidemiological trends in suicide for the three regions of the United Kingdom (England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland) and for Ireland from 1960 to 1990. The data on suicide rates were obtained from the World Health Organization statistical base, supplemented by data from the statistical offices of the four regions. While the suicide rates in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland increased during the period under study, English/Welsh suicide rates first declined and then held steady. In Ireland, both male and female suicide rates increased, whereas in the other regions only male suicide rates rose. According to age, in England and Wales, suicide rates rose for male teenagers and young males, while for the other regions male suicide rates increased in general for all age groups. Social indicators (unemployment, marriage and birth rates) were quite successful in predicting male suicide rates in all four regions and in predicting female suicide rates in England and Wales and in Ireland. The results emphasize the importance of studying several regions in epidemiological studies in order to identify which trends are general and which are unique to one nation. In the present study, the epidemiological trends for suicide in England and Wales were quite different from those in the other three regions. In particular, the steady overall suicide rate in England and Wales and the rising suicide rate for young males alone differ from the trends observed in the other regions and raise importante questions about the causes of the social suicide rate in these four regions.

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Elderly suicide rates in the United Kingdom: Trends from 1979 to 2002

Medicine Science and the Law ◽

10.1258/rsmmsl.47.1.56 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 47 (1) ◽

pp. 56-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Ajit Shah

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

Suicide Rates ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Elderly Suicide

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Dietary Tryptophan Ratio and Suicide in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand

OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying ◽

10.2190/r2w5-y6ed-1ljv-l77x ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 71-76 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Michio Kitahara

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Amino Acids ◽

United Kingdom ◽

New Zealand ◽

Dietary Intake ◽

The United States ◽

Brain Neurons ◽

Suicide Rates ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Per Capita

It was hypothesized that when relative dietary intake of tryptophan per capita is low compared to certain other amino acids, less serotonin is formed in brain neurons, and suicide rates tend to be high. The hypothesis was supported for males and for both sexes combined.

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Suicide in Scotland in Comparison with England and Wales

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/s0007125000001355 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 121 (560) ◽

pp. 83-87

Author(s):

Norman Kreitman

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

World Health Organization ◽

World Health ◽

Official Statistics ◽

England And Wales ◽

Suicide Rates ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

A Value ◽

Health Organization

Over 70 years ago, Sibbald (1900) commented that the official statistics on suicide showed Scotland to have lower rates than England and Wales. It seems that Scotland has always been regarded as one of the countries with relatively few suicides. A recent World Health Organization publication (1968) commented on the official suicide rates in a sample of 20 different nations; among these Scotland ranked nineteenth in 1952–4. However, this picture appears to have been gradually changing over the last two decades, and the same W.H.O. publication, citing official statistics for the period 1961–3, quotes a value for Scotland which raises it to fifteenth in the list of 20 countries. Moreover, the Scottish rates and those for England and Wales have gradually come closer together over the last 20 years.The aim of this paper is to examine the trends in Scottish statistics for the last two decades and to compare the current suicide rates with those of the rest of the United Kingdom. All the data quoted are based on the publications of the Registrars General for Scotland and for England and Wales.

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Why Has Suicide Increased in Young Males?

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910.19.3.119 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 119-124 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Keith Hawton

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

Relative Stability ◽

Western Hemisphere ◽

Young Males ◽

Young Females ◽

Suicide Rates ◽

The United Kingdom

Several countries in the Western hemisphere have experienced a marked increase in suicide rates in young males in recent years. This article considers this phenomenon largely from the perspective of the United Kingdom, where rates of suicide in 15-24-year-old males nearly doubled in just over a decade. The possible reasons for this are considered, particularly in the context of relative stability of suicide rates in young females.

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Suicide in the Elderly: The United Kingdom Perspective

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s104161029500202x ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 263-274 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Michael S. Dennis ◽

James Lindesay

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Indian Subcontinent ◽

The Elderly ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Appropriate Care ◽

Primary Healthcare Provider ◽

Self Harm ◽

Elderly Suicide ◽

Clinical Audits

This article reviews British government policies regarding the reduction of elderly suicide. Epidemiologic trends in elderly suicide indicate males aged 75 and older have the highest rates, with frequent methods being hanging and overdose. In contrast, rates among elderly who have immigrated from the Indian subcontinent in the past 10 to 30 years are significantly lower. Characteristics of elderly suicides and deliberate self-harm in the United Kingdom suggest that depression, social isolation and loss, and physical illness all are risk factors. Because most elderly suicides have contact with a primary healthcare provider in the month prior to the suicide, an effort to educate general practitioners and psychiatrists about treatable depression in the elderly is being made. Other policies also are being implemented: reduction of means of suicide, better linkage among services for the elderly for enhanced appropriate care, and clinical audits of suicide. Research associated with these policy efforts may further elucidate clinically relevant risk factors.

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Assessment of deliberate self-harm in adults

Advances in Psychiatric Treatment ◽

10.1192/apt.1.5.124 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 1 (5) ◽

pp. 124-130 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

David Owens ◽

Allan House

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Suicide Prevention ◽

Suicide Rate ◽

Prevention Strategy ◽

Deliberate Self Harm ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Self Harm

Deliberate self-harm remains a common problem in the United Kingdom, with rates in the order of 250–300 per 100 000 per year (Hawton & Fagg, 1992). Since the suicide rate in the 12 months after hospital attendance for deliberate self-harm is around 1% (Hawton & Fagg, 1988), each year approximately 2–3 per 100 000 of the population die by suicide within a year of attending hospital with a non-fatal episode of deliberate self-harm. This is about a quarter of the overall suicide rate of 11 per 100 000. There is therefore an easily definable group at risk of suicide who should be the focus of a suicide prevention strategy.

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Ethnicity and Elderly Suicide in Singapore

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s1041610295002067 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 309-317 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Soo Meng Ko ◽

Ee Heok Kua

Keyword(s):

General Population ◽

Elderly People ◽

Suicide Rate ◽

Age Groups ◽

The Elderly ◽

Sociocultural Factors ◽

Suicide Rates ◽

Younger Age ◽

The Mean ◽

Elderly Suicide

In the cosmopolitan city of Singapore the annual suicide rates in the general population from 1985 to 1991 remained fairly constant, with a mean of 15.3 per 100,000. It was highest among Indians (19.5 per 100,000), followed by Chinese (16.2 per 100,000) and Malays (2.3 per 100,000). The suicide rates were higher in elderly people (aged 65 years and over) than in younger age groups (10 to 64 years) and in males than in females. For the elderly, the mean annual suicide rate for this period was 52.0 per 100,000. However, it was highest among Chinese, with 59.3 per 100,000, followed by Indians at 33.9 per 100,000, and, again, lowest among Malays, with 3.0 per 100,000. Possible sociocultural factors are proposed to account for differences in suicide rates among these ethnic groups.

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Intelligence and Suicide in Ireland and the United Kingdom

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1995.77.1.122 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 77 (1) ◽

pp. 122-122 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

David Lester

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

Test Scores ◽

Intelligence Test ◽

Social Characteristics ◽

Suicide Rates ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Intelligence Test Scores

Mean estimated intelligence test scores for the residents of Ireland and 12 regions of the United Kingdom were associated with suicide rates but probably as a result of association with other social characteristics such as income and urbanization.

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