Citation

Collings S. Psychiatr. Danub. 2006; 18(Suppl 1): 59.

Affiliation

Health Sciences, PO Box 7343, 6001 Wellington South, New Zealand. sunny.collings@otago.ac.nz.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Facultas Universitatis Studiorum Zagrabiensis - Danube Symposion of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16963950

Abstract

To investigate geographical inequalities in suicide rates among males aged 15 - 44 in New Zealand during 1980-200, a period of significant macro-social change in New Zealand. Descriptive study examining changes in geographical inequalities in three year averaged age and sex-standardised suicide rates, calculated for males aged 15-44 for District Health Boards (providers of public mental health services) catchment areas, and for small area deprivation quintiles (using NZDep01, the 2001 New Zealand small area deprivation score), for the periods 1980-82, 1985-87, 1990-92, 1995-97, 1999-2001. Changes in rates among District Health Boards varied from a 24 percent reduction in one to a more than five-fold increase in another. The ratio of inequality in suicide between the least deprived and most deprived areas of New Zealand rose from 1.65 in 1980-82 to a high of 1.95 in 1990-92, followed by a reduction to 1.88 by the end of the study period. Geographical inequalities in suicide among 15 - 44 year old males grew during the period 1980 to 2001 and remain high. The greatest increase in inequality was during the late 1980s and early 1990s. These data are discussed in terms of the impact of macrosocial contexts on suicide.

Language: en