Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

LIVE: Thursday 2nd May 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)

Quality sleep is essential for health. But what happens to our brains when sleep patterns are disturbed? Join our experts to explore the interplay between sleep disruption and neurological diseases, and the questions that you need to be asking your patients to help you prevent the harmful effects of sleep deprivation.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Psychiatry
Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research article

Occupational class differences in suicide: evidence of changes over time and during the global financial crisis in Australia

Authors: Alison J. Milner, Heather Niven, Anthony D. LaMontagne

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2015

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Previous research showed an increase in Australian suicide rates during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). There has been no research investigating whether suicide rates by occupational class changed during the GFC. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the GFC-associated increase in suicide rates in employed Australians may have masked changes by occupational class.

Methods

Negative binomial regression models were used to investigate Rate Ratios (RRs) in suicide by occupational class. Years of the GFC (2007, 2008, 2009) were compared to the baseline years 2001–2006.

Results

There were widening disparities between a number of the lower class occupations and the highest class occupations during the years 2007, 2008, and 2009 for males, but less evidence of differences for females.

Conclusions

Occupational disparities in suicide rates widened over the GFC period. There is a need for programs to be responsive to economic downturns, and to prioritise the occupational groups most affected.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Berk M, Dodd S, Henry M. The effect of macroeconomic variables on suicide. Psychol Med. 2006;36:181–9.CrossRefPubMed
2.
Barr B, Taylor-Robinson D, Scott-Samuel A, McKee M, Stuckler D. Suicides associated with the 2008-10 economic recession in England: time trend analysis. BMJ. 2012;345:e5142.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
3.
4.
Reeves A, Stuckler D, McKee M, Gunnell D, Chang S-S, Basu S. Increase in state suicide rates in the USA during economic recession. Lancet. 2012;380:1813–4.CrossRefPubMed
5.
Stuckler D, Basu S, Suhrcke M, Coutts A, McKee M. Effects of the 2008 recession on health: a first look at European data. Lancet. 2011;378:124–5.CrossRefPubMed
6.
Saurina C, Bragulat B, Saez M, Lopez-Casasnovas G. A conditional model for estimating the increase in suicides associated with the 2008-2010 economic recession in England. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2013;67:779–87.CrossRefPubMed
7.
Milner A, Morrell S, LaMontagne AD. Economically inactive, unemployed and employed suicides in Australia by age and sex over a 10-year period: what was the impact of the 2007 economic recession? Int J Epidemiol. 2014; doi:10.​1093/​ije/​dyu148.
8.
Milner A, Spittal MJ, Pirkis J, LaMontagne AD. Suicide by occupation: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Psychiatry. 2013;203:409–16.CrossRefPubMed
9.
Kim MD, Hong SC, Lee SY, Kwak YS, Lee CI, Hwang SW, et al. Suicide risk in relation to social class: a national register-based study of adult suicides in Korea, 1999-2001. The Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2006;52:138–51.CrossRefPubMed
10.
11.
ABS. ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand standard classification of occupations, First Edition, Revision 1. Cat. No. 1220.0. Canberra Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009.
12.
ABS. Australian demographic statistics, September quarter 2002. Cat. No. 3101.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2003.
13.
Agerbo E, Mortensen PB, Qin P, Westergaard-Nielsen N. Risk of suicide in relation to income level in people admitted to hospital with mental illness: nested case-control study. BMJ. 2001;332:334–5.CrossRef
14.
Meltzer H, Griffiths C, Brock A, Rooney C, Jenkins R. Patterns of suicide by occupation in England and Wales: 2001-2005. Br J Psychiatry. 2008;193:73–6.CrossRefPubMed
15.
Mustard CA, Bielecky A, Etches J, Wilkins R, Tjepkema M, Amick BC, et al. Suicide mortality by occupation in Canada, 1991-2001. Can J Psychiatry. 2010;55:369–76.PubMed
16.
Heller TS, Hawgood JL, Leo DD. Correlates of suicide in building industry workers. Arch Suicide Res. 2007;11:105–17.CrossRefPubMed
17.
Milner A, Niven H, LaMontagne AD. Suicide by occupational skill level in the Australian construction industry: Data from a national register of deaths over the period 2001 to 2010. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2007;38:281–5.
18.
Hawton K, Malmberg A, Simkin S. Suicide in doctors. A psychological autopsy study. J Psychosom Res. 2004;57:1–4.CrossRefPubMed
19.
Hong J, Knapp M, McGuire A. Income-related inequalities in the prevalence of depression and suicidal behaviour: a 10-year trend following economic crisis. World Psychiatry. 2011;10:40–4.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
20.
Blakely T, Tobias M, Atkinson J. Inequalities in mortality during and after restructuring of the New Zealand economy: repeated cohort studies. BMJ. 2008;336:371–5.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
21.
Mackenbach JP, Bos V, Andersen O, Cardano M, Costa G, Harding S, et al. Widening socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in six Western European countries. Int J Epidemiol. 2003;32:830–7.CrossRefPubMed
22.
23.
LaMontagne AD, Krnjacki L, Kavanagh AM, Bentley R. Psychosocial working conditions in a representative sample of working Australians 2001–2008: an analysis of changes in inequalities over time. Occup Environ Med. 2013;70:639–47.CrossRefPubMed
24.
Stansfeld S, Candy B. Psychosocial work environment and mental health--a meta-analytic review. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2006;32:443–62.CrossRefPubMed
25.
Oesch D. What explains high unemployment among low-skilled workers? Evidence from 21 OECD countries. European Journal of Industrial Relations. 2010;16:39–55.CrossRef
26.
ABS. Labour force, Australia, detailed, quarterly, May 2013. Cat. No. 6291.0.55.003. Canberra Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013.
27.
De Leo D, Dudley MJ, Aebersold CJ, Mendoza JA, Barnes MA, Harrison JE, et al. Achieving standardised reporting of suicide in Australia: rationale and program for change. Med J Aust. 2010;192:452–6.PubMed
28.
29.
Metadata
Title
Occupational class differences in suicide: evidence of changes over time and during the global financial crisis in Australia
Authors
Alison J. Milner
Heather Niven
Anthony D. LaMontagne
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-015-0608-5

Other articles of this Issue 1/2015

BMC Psychiatry 1/2015 Go to the issue

Research article

The two-year course of late-life depression; results from the Netherlands study of depression in older persons

Case report

Drug-induced cerebral glucose metabolism resembling Alzheimer’s Disease: a case study

Study protocol

Mental health first aid training for nursing students: a protocol for a pragmatic randomised controlled trial in a large university

Research article

Paternal and maternal bonding styles in childhood are associated with the prevalence of chronic pain in a general adult population: the Hisayama Study

Study protocol

The effect of the mental health first-aid training course offered employees in Denmark: study protocol for a randomized waitlist-controlled superiority trial mixed with a qualitative study

Research article

Direct and indirect exposure to violence and psychological distress among civil servants in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: a prospective cohort study