Gender issues in suicide rates, trends and methods among youths aged 15-24 in 15 European countries

Airi Vaernik; Kairi Kolves; Jueri Allik; Ella Arensman; Esa Aromaa; Chantal van Audenhove; Jean-Herve Bouleauh; Christina M. van der Feltz-Cornelis; Giancarlo Giupponi; Ricardo Gusmao; Maria Kopp; Andrej Marusic; Margaret Maxwell; Hogni Oskarsson; Ann Palmer; Charles Pull; Anu Realo; Thomas Reisch; Armin Schmidtke; Victor Perez Sola; Lisa Wittenburg; Ulrich Hegerl

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2008.06.004

Gender issues in suicide rates, trends and methods among youths aged 15-24 in 15 European countries

Airi Vaernik, Kairi Kolves, Jueri Allik, Ella Arensman, Esa Aromaa, Chantal van Audenhove, Jean-Herve Bouleauh, Christina M. van der Feltz-Cornelis, Giancarlo Giupponi, Ricardo Gusmao, Maria Kopp, Andrej Marusic, Margaret Maxwell, Hogni Oskarsson, Ann Palmer, Charles Pull, Anu Realo, Thomas Reisch, Armin Schmidtke, Victor Perez SolaLisa Wittenburg, Ulrich Hegerl

Deanery of Clinical Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Background: No recent cross-country examinations for youth suicide trends and methods for Europe were found.

Aim: The aim of the study is to specify differences in suicide rates, trends and methods used among 15-24 years olds by gender across 15 European countries.

Method: Data for 14,738 suicide cases in the age group 15-24 in 2000-2004/5 were obtained and analysed.

Results: Suicide rates ranged 5.5-35.1 for males and 1.3-8.5 for females. Statistically significant decline since 2000 was observed in Germany, Scotland, Spain, and England for males and in Ireland for females. Hanging was most frequently used for both genders, followed by jumping and use of a moving object for males and jumping and poisoning by drugs for females. Male Suicides had a higher risk than females of using firearms and hanging and lower risk of poisoning by drugs and jumping. There were large differences between single Countries.

Limitations: The limitations of the study are the small numbers of specific suicide methods in some countries as well as the recategorisation of ICD-9 codes into ICD-10 in England, Ireland and Portugal. Further, the use of suicides (X60-X84) without events of undetermined deaths (Y10-Y34) continues to be problematic considering the possibility of "hidden suicides".

Conclusions: The present Study shows that suicide rates among young males are decreasing since 2000 in several European countries. Analysis of suicide methods confirms that there is a very high proportion of hanging in youths, which is extremely difficult to restrict. However, besides hanging there are also high rates of preventable suicide methods and reducing the availability of means should be one of the goals of suicide prevention. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	216-226
Number of pages	11
Journal	Journal of Affective Disorders (JAD)
Volume	113
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2008.06.004
Publication status	Published - Mar 2009

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10.1016/j.jad.2008.06.004

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Vaernik, A., Kolves, K., Allik, J., Arensman, E., Aromaa, E., van Audenhove, C., Bouleauh, J-H., van der Feltz-Cornelis, C. M., Giupponi, G., Gusmao, R., Kopp, M., Marusic, A., Maxwell, M., Oskarsson, H., Palmer, A., Pull, C., Realo, A., Reisch, T., Schmidtke, A., ... Hegerl, U. (2009). Gender issues in suicide rates, trends and methods among youths aged 15-24 in 15 European countries. Journal of Affective Disorders (JAD), 113(3), 216-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2008.06.004

@article{18a239e584bf449a818c4466415925b7,

title = "Gender issues in suicide rates, trends and methods among youths aged 15-24 in 15 European countries",

abstract = "Background: No recent cross-country examinations for youth suicide trends and methods for Europe were found.Aim: The aim of the study is to specify differences in suicide rates, trends and methods used among 15-24 years olds by gender across 15 European countries.Method: Data for 14,738 suicide cases in the age group 15-24 in 2000-2004/5 were obtained and analysed.Results: Suicide rates ranged 5.5-35.1 for males and 1.3-8.5 for females. Statistically significant decline since 2000 was observed in Germany, Scotland, Spain, and England for males and in Ireland for females. Hanging was most frequently used for both genders, followed by jumping and use of a moving object for males and jumping and poisoning by drugs for females. Male Suicides had a higher risk than females of using firearms and hanging and lower risk of poisoning by drugs and jumping. There were large differences between single Countries.Limitations: The limitations of the study are the small numbers of specific suicide methods in some countries as well as the recategorisation of ICD-9 codes into ICD-10 in England, Ireland and Portugal. Further, the use of suicides (X60-X84) without events of undetermined deaths (Y10-Y34) continues to be problematic considering the possibility of {"}hidden suicides{"}.Conclusions: The present Study shows that suicide rates among young males are decreasing since 2000 in several European countries. Analysis of suicide methods confirms that there is a very high proportion of hanging in youths, which is extremely difficult to restrict. However, besides hanging there are also high rates of preventable suicide methods and reducing the availability of means should be one of the goals of suicide prevention. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.",

author = "Airi Vaernik and Kairi Kolves and Jueri Allik and Ella Arensman and Esa Aromaa and {van Audenhove}, Chantal and Jean-Herve Bouleauh and {van der Feltz-Cornelis}, {Christina M.} and Giancarlo Giupponi and Ricardo Gusmao and Maria Kopp and Andrej Marusic and Margaret Maxwell and Hogni Oskarsson and Ann Palmer and Charles Pull and Anu Realo and Thomas Reisch and Armin Schmidtke and Sola, {Victor Perez} and Lisa Wittenburg and Ulrich Hegerl",

year = "2009",

month = mar,

doi = "10.1016/j.jad.2008.06.004",

language = "English",

volume = "113",

pages = "216--226",

journal = "Journal of Affective Disorders (JAD)",

issn = "0165-0327",

publisher = "Elsevier",

number = "3",

}

Vaernik, A, Kolves, K, Allik, J, Arensman, E, Aromaa, E, van Audenhove, C, Bouleauh, J-H, van der Feltz-Cornelis, CM, Giupponi, G, Gusmao, R, Kopp, M, Marusic, A, Maxwell, M, Oskarsson, H, Palmer, A, Pull, C, Realo, A, Reisch, T, Schmidtke, A, Sola, VP, Wittenburg, L & Hegerl, U 2009, 'Gender issues in suicide rates, trends and methods among youths aged 15-24 in 15 European countries', Journal of Affective Disorders (JAD), vol. 113, no. 3, pp. 216-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2008.06.004

TY - JOUR

T1 - Gender issues in suicide rates, trends and methods among youths aged 15-24 in 15 European countries

AU - Vaernik, Airi

AU - Kolves, Kairi

AU - Allik, Jueri

AU - Arensman, Ella

AU - Aromaa, Esa

AU - van Audenhove, Chantal

AU - Bouleauh, Jean-Herve

AU - van der Feltz-Cornelis, Christina M.

AU - Giupponi, Giancarlo

AU - Gusmao, Ricardo

AU - Kopp, Maria

AU - Marusic, Andrej

AU - Maxwell, Margaret

AU - Oskarsson, Hogni

AU - Palmer, Ann

AU - Pull, Charles

AU - Realo, Anu

AU - Reisch, Thomas

AU - Schmidtke, Armin

AU - Sola, Victor Perez

AU - Wittenburg, Lisa

AU - Hegerl, Ulrich

PY - 2009/3

Y1 - 2009/3

N2 - Background: No recent cross-country examinations for youth suicide trends and methods for Europe were found.Aim: The aim of the study is to specify differences in suicide rates, trends and methods used among 15-24 years olds by gender across 15 European countries.Method: Data for 14,738 suicide cases in the age group 15-24 in 2000-2004/5 were obtained and analysed.Results: Suicide rates ranged 5.5-35.1 for males and 1.3-8.5 for females. Statistically significant decline since 2000 was observed in Germany, Scotland, Spain, and England for males and in Ireland for females. Hanging was most frequently used for both genders, followed by jumping and use of a moving object for males and jumping and poisoning by drugs for females. Male Suicides had a higher risk than females of using firearms and hanging and lower risk of poisoning by drugs and jumping. There were large differences between single Countries.Limitations: The limitations of the study are the small numbers of specific suicide methods in some countries as well as the recategorisation of ICD-9 codes into ICD-10 in England, Ireland and Portugal. Further, the use of suicides (X60-X84) without events of undetermined deaths (Y10-Y34) continues to be problematic considering the possibility of "hidden suicides".Conclusions: The present Study shows that suicide rates among young males are decreasing since 2000 in several European countries. Analysis of suicide methods confirms that there is a very high proportion of hanging in youths, which is extremely difficult to restrict. However, besides hanging there are also high rates of preventable suicide methods and reducing the availability of means should be one of the goals of suicide prevention. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

AB - Background: No recent cross-country examinations for youth suicide trends and methods for Europe were found.Aim: The aim of the study is to specify differences in suicide rates, trends and methods used among 15-24 years olds by gender across 15 European countries.Method: Data for 14,738 suicide cases in the age group 15-24 in 2000-2004/5 were obtained and analysed.Results: Suicide rates ranged 5.5-35.1 for males and 1.3-8.5 for females. Statistically significant decline since 2000 was observed in Germany, Scotland, Spain, and England for males and in Ireland for females. Hanging was most frequently used for both genders, followed by jumping and use of a moving object for males and jumping and poisoning by drugs for females. Male Suicides had a higher risk than females of using firearms and hanging and lower risk of poisoning by drugs and jumping. There were large differences between single Countries.Limitations: The limitations of the study are the small numbers of specific suicide methods in some countries as well as the recategorisation of ICD-9 codes into ICD-10 in England, Ireland and Portugal. Further, the use of suicides (X60-X84) without events of undetermined deaths (Y10-Y34) continues to be problematic considering the possibility of "hidden suicides".Conclusions: The present Study shows that suicide rates among young males are decreasing since 2000 in several European countries. Analysis of suicide methods confirms that there is a very high proportion of hanging in youths, which is extremely difficult to restrict. However, besides hanging there are also high rates of preventable suicide methods and reducing the availability of means should be one of the goals of suicide prevention. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

U2 - 10.1016/j.jad.2008.06.004

DO - 10.1016/j.jad.2008.06.004

M3 - Article

VL - 113

SP - 216

EP - 226

JO - Journal of Affective Disorders (JAD)

JF - Journal of Affective Disorders (JAD)

SN - 0165-0327

IS - 3

ER -

Gender issues in suicide rates, trends and methods among youths aged 15-24 in 15 European countries

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