Evaluation on the accuracy of reported suicides in the Chinese population / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the accuracy of reports of suicide in the national death registry systems and to estimate a more accurate suicide rate.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty-three sites from the Disease Surveillance Points Network-one of the national death registry systems-were selected and 1 932 of the deaths that occurred at these sites from August 1995 through August 2000 in which the official cause was classified as "accidental" or "mental illness" were selected for detailed household surveys focusing on reassessing the cause of death. Valid interviews were completed in 1 653 of these cases. The original cause of death recorded on the death certificate was compared with the finding of the detailed household survey and the result was used to adjust the suicide rate.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After detailed investigation, 16 of the 857 (1.87%) deaths reported on the death certificate as suicide were considered accidental deaths, 39 of the 721 (5.41%) accidental deaths were considered suicide, 17 of the 35 (48.57%) cases reported as undetermined accidents were considered suicide, and 6 of the 40 (15.00%) cases in which mental illness was the recorded cause of death were considered suicide. After adjustments for errors in the reported cause of death and for missing deaths, the reported crude suicide rate of 13.65/100 000 in China was adjusted to 22.99/100 000 (95% CI: 21.78/100 000 - 24.25/100 000).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>After adjustments the actual suicide rate for China was higher than the reported rate indicating that suicide was an increasingly important public health problem for China.</p>

Why is the Suicide Attempt Rate Higher in Women? / 中国心理卫生杂志

Objective:Compare the characteristics of male and female suicide attempters with the goal of explaining the significantly higher rates of suicide attempts in women.Method:Investigators who were rigorously trained in the research schedule assessed 326 serious suicide attempters (248 women and 78 men) treated in the emergency rooms of general hospitals and conducted an examination to determine the psychiatric diagnosis (based on DSM-IV criteria).Results:Most characteristics were similar in male and female attempters: age, family financial status and characteristics, number of prior suicide attempts, method used in the attempt, suicidal intent, number and psychological effect of negative life events, and rate of mental illness. The three most frequent negative life events were the same for men and women: marital conflict, major changes in daily routines, and financial difficulties. But compared to male attempters, female attempters had lower educational achievement, were more likely to be currently married, were more likely to have been working at the time of the attempt, had younger co-resident family members, had less contact with adult family members in the month before the attempt, and were less likely to have alcohol dependence (p's all