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Abstract
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OBJECTIVES: To investigate the influences of demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic factors on nonresident suicides.
METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, data on demographics, geographical locations of residence, and places of death for 2011-2013 were retrieved from the Taiwanese National Cause-of-Death Register. The odds ratios for nonresident suicides associated with each risk factor were calculated. The correlations of county-level socioeconomic indicators with nonresident suicide data obtained from public government databases were analyzed. Multilevel modeling was used to examine the cross-level interaction effects between individual-level and county-level variables.
RESULTS: A total of 10,474 suicide deaths occurred during 2011-2013, of which 1,538 (14.7%) deaths occurred away from the area of residence. The most common suicide methods used were hanging and asphyxiation (32.1%). Among the regions of Taiwan, the offshore islands (33.3%), Taipei and the surrounding area (20.4%), and the Hualien-Taitung area (15.8%) had the highest proportions of nonresident suicides. Age of <25 years (OR = 1.31, p <.05), single and divorced marital status (single: OR = 1.83, p <.001; divorced: OR = 1.55, p <.001), and a lower labor force participation rate (OR =.87, p <.05) and higher dependency ratio (OR = 1.10, p <.05) in the resident area were associated with increased odds of nonresident suicides. Gender, age, and marital status interacted with most of the socioeconomic indicators.
CONCLUSIONS: Nonresident suicides highlight the effects of employment opportunity, elderly care, and housing issues on public mental health. © 2022 Chinese Public Health Association of Taiwan. All rights reserved.
Language: zh |