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
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2016

Open Access 01-12-2016 | Research article

Long-term trends of suicide by choice of method in Norway: a joinpoint regression analysis of data from 1969 to 2012

Authors: Quirino Puzo, Ping Qin, Lars Mehlum

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2016

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Suicide mortality and the rates by specific methods in a population may change over time in response to concurrent changes in relevant factors in society. This study aimed to identify significant changing points in method-specific suicide mortality from 1969 to 2012 in Norway.

Method

Data on suicide mortality by specific methods and by sex and age were retrieved from the Norwegian Cause-of-Death Register. Long-term trends in age-standardized rates of suicide mortality were analyzed by using joinpoint regression analysis.

Results

The most frequently used suicide method in the total population was hanging, followed by poisoning and firearms. Men chose suicide by firearms more often than women, whereas poisoning and drowning were more frequently used by women. The joinpoint analysis revealed that the overall trend of suicide mortality significantly changed twice along the period of 1969 to 2012 for both sexes. The male age-standardized suicide rate increased by 3.1 % per year until 1989, and decreased by 1.2 % per year between 1994 and 2012. Among females the long-term suicide rate increased by 4.0 % per year until 1988, decreased by 5.5 % through 1995, and then stabilized. Both sexes experienced an upward trend for suicide by hanging during the 44-year observation period, with a particularly significant increase in 15–24 year old males. The most distinct change among men was seen for firearms after 1988 with a significant decrease through 2012 of around 5 % per year. For women, significant reductions since 1985–88 were observed for suicide by drowning and poisoning.

Conclusions

The present study demonstrates different time trends for different suicide methods with significant reductions in suicide by firearms, drowning and poisoning after the peak in the suicide rate in the late 1980s. Suicide by means of hanging continuously increased, but did not fully compensate for the reduced use of other methods. This lends some support for the effectiveness of method-specific suicide preventive measures, such as restrictions to the access to firearms, which had been implemented in Norway during the relevant time period.
Literature
1.
2.
3.
Beautrais AL. Methods of youth suicide in New Zealand: trends and implications for prevention. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2000;34(3):413–9.CrossRefPubMed
4.
McClure G. Changes in suicide in England and Wales, 1960–1997. Br J Psychiatry. 2000;176(1):64–7.CrossRefPubMed
5.
Lester D. Changes in the methods used for suicide in 16 countries from 1960 to 1980. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1990;81(3):260–1.CrossRefPubMed
6.
7.
Bille‐Brahe U, Jessen G. Suicide in Denmark, 1922–1991: the choice of method. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1994;90(2):91–6.CrossRefPubMed
8.
9.
Cantor CH, Baume PJ. Access to methods of suicide: what impact? Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1998;32(1):8–14.CrossRefPubMed
10.
11.
Mehlum L, Hytten K, Gjertsen F. Epidemiological trends of youth suicide in Norway. Arch Suicide Res. 1999;5(3):193–205.
12.
Gjertsen F, Leenaars A, Vollrath ME. Mixed impact of firearms restrictions on fatal firearm injuries in males: a national observational study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2014;11(1):487–506.CrossRefPubMedCentral
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
Norwegian Board of Health. The National Plan for Suicide Prevention 1994–1998. Oslo: Norwegian Board of Health; 1996.
19.
Ajdacic-Gross V, Weiss MG, Ring M, Hepp U, Bopp M, Gutzwiller F, et al. Methods of suicide: international suicide patterns derived from the WHO mortality database. Bull World Health Organ. 2008;86(9):726–32.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
20.
Eddleston M, Phillips MR. Self poisoning with pesticides. BMJ: Br Med J. 2004;328(7430):42.CrossRef
21.
Mościcki EK. Identification of suicide risk factors using epidemiologic studies. Psychiatr Clin N Am. 1997;20(3):499–517.CrossRef
22.
23.
Loftin C, McDowall D, Wiersema B, Cottey TJ. Effects of restrictive licensing of handguns on homicide and suicide in the District of Columbia. N Engl J Med. 1991;325(23):1615–20.CrossRefPubMed
24.
Lambert MT, Silva PS. An update on the impact of gun control legislation on suicide. Psychiatr Q. 1998;69(2):127–34.CrossRefPubMed
25.
Rich CL, Young JG, Fowler RC, Wagner J, Black NA. Guns and suicide: possible effects of some specific legislation. Am J Psychiatry. 1990;147(3):342.CrossRefPubMed
26.
Mann JJ, Apter A, Bertolote J, Beautrais A, Currier D, Haas A, et al. Suicide prevention strategies: a systematic review. Jama. 2005;294(16):2064–74.CrossRefPubMed
27.
Lester D. The effect of the detoxification of domestic gas in Switzerland on the suicide rate. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1990;82(5):383–4.CrossRefPubMed
28.
29.
Carrington PJ. Gender, gun control, suicide and homicide in Canada. Arch Suicide Res. 1999;5(1):71–5.
30.
Hawton K, Townsend E, Deeks J, Appleby L, Gunnell D, Bennewith O, et al. Effects of legislation restricting pack sizes of paracetamol and salicylate on self poisoning in the United Kingdom: before and after study. BMJ. 2001;322(7296):1203.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
31.
Wilkinson S, Taylor G, Templeton L, Mistral W, Salter E, Bennett P. Admissions to hospital for deliberate self-harm in England 1995–2000: an analysis of hospital episode statistics. J Public Health Med. 2002;24(3):179–83.CrossRefPubMed
32.
O’Carroll PW, Silverman MM, Berman AL. Community suicide prevention: The effectiveness of bridge barriers. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 1994;24(1):89–99.PubMed
33.
Beautrais AL. Effectiveness of barriers at suicide jumping sites: a case study. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2001;35(5):557–62.CrossRefPubMed
34.
Caron J, Julien M, Huang JH. Changes in suicide methods in Quebec between 1987 and 2000: The possible impact of bill C‐17 requiring safe storage of firearms. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2008;38(2):195–208.CrossRefPubMed
35.
Bramness JG, Walby FA, Tverdal A. The sales of antidepressants and suicide rates in Norway and its counties 1980–2004. J Affect Disord. 2007;102(1):1–9.CrossRefPubMed
36.
Reseland S, Bray I, Gunnell D. Relationship between antidepressant sales and secular trends in suicide rates in the Nordic countries. Br J Psychiatry. 2006;188(4):354–8.CrossRefPubMed
37.
Gunnell D, Ashby D. Antidepressants and suicide: what is the balance of benefit and harm. BMJ: Br Med J. 2004;329(7456):34.CrossRef
38.
Barbui C, Campomori A, D’avanzo B, Negri E, Garattini S. Antidepressant drug use in Italy since the introduction of SSRIs: national trends, regional differences and impact on suicide rates. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1999;34(3):152–6.CrossRefPubMed
39.
Helgason T, Tómasson H, Zoega T. Antidepressants and public health in Iceland time series analysis of national data. Br J Psychiatry. 2004;184(2):157–62.CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Long-term trends of suicide by choice of method in Norway: a joinpoint regression analysis of data from 1969 to 2012
Authors
Quirino Puzo
Ping Qin
Lars Mehlum
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2016
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-2919-y

Other articles of this Issue 1/2016

BMC Public Health 1/2016 Go to the issue

Research article

Perceived discrimination and self-rated health in Canada: an exploratory study

Research article

Reducing the Strength: a mixed methods evaluation of alcohol retailers’ willingness to voluntarily reduce the availability of low cost, high strength beers and ciders in two UK local authorities

Research article

Screen-based sedentary behavior and associations with functional strength in 6–15 year-old children in the United States

Research article

A descriptive analysis of the spatio-temporal distribution of enteric diseases in New Brunswick, Canada

Research article

Effect of a participatory organizational-level occupational health intervention on job satisfaction, exhaustion and sleep disturbances: results of a cluster randomized controlled trial

Research article

Health conditions of inmates in Italy