Suicide methods in Europe: a gender-specific analysis of countries participating in the "European Alliance Against Depression"

Abstract

Objective:To identify the most frequent gender-specific suicide methods in Europe.Design:Proportions of seven predominant suicide methods utilised in 16 countries participating in the European Alliance Against Depression (EAAD) were reported in total and cross-nationally. Relative risk (RR) relating to suicide methods and gender was calculated. To group countries by pattern of suicide methods, hierarchical clustering was applied.Setting and participants:Data on suicide methods for 119 122 male and 41 338 female cases in 2000–4/5 from 16 EAAD countries, covering 52% of European population were obtained.Results:Hanging was the most prevalent suicide method among both males (54.3%) and females (35.6%). For males, hanging was followed by firearms (9.7%) and poisoning by drugs (8.6%); for females, by poisoning by drugs (24.7%) and jumping from a high place (14.5%). Only in Switzerland did hanging rank as second for males after firearms. Hanging ranked first among females in eight countries, poisoning by drugs in five and jumping from a high place in three. In all countries, males had a higher risk than females of using firearms and hanging and a lower risk of poisoning by drugs, drowning and jumping. Grouping showed that countries might be divided into five main groups among males; for females, grouping did not yield clear results.Conclusions:Research on suicide methods could lead to the development of gender-specific intervention strategies. Nevertheless, other approaches, such as better identification and treatment of mental disorders and the improvement of toxicological aid should be put in place.

The Characteristics of Elderly Patients With Suicide Attempts: A Comparative Study With Non-elderly Patients

“…However, when controlling for all the other variables, male sex was no longer a risk factor for suicide attempts by the elderly. This may be due to the different rates of suicide methods between our study, characterized by more frequent low lethality drug overdose, and other studies, characterized by more frequent highly lethal methods of suicide, such as hanging and shooting [34][35][36] . It is also reflected in our finding that highly lethal drug overdose was identified as a risk factor for suicide attempt among the elderly.…”

Suicide in Scottish military veterans: a 30-year retrospective cohort study

“…The choice of method of suicide varies with gender, culture and availability of method, although the reasons are poorly understood, and both the intended level of lethality and risk of damaging the body appearance have been suggested to explain the reduced likelihood of use of violent methods by women. [25] The reduced risk of suicide by firearms and explosives in veteran men in our study compared with non-veterans contrasts with serving personnel, where 20% of suicides in men result from this cause although the rate has reduced from a peak of 6 per 100,000 per year in the army in the mid-1990s to around 1 per 100,000 per year in 2012. [26] Our results differ from a US study which showed an increased risk of firearm-related suicide in both male and female veterans compared with the wider population.…”

Firearm suicide decedents in the Republic of Ireland, 1980–2005

“…Such research tends to suggest that males are more likely than females to use firearms in committing suicide. 4,16,[19][20][21][22] In this study the proportion of males in the FAS group was 4.54 times the proportion in the n-FAS group. This is traditionally rationalised as reflecting the fact that males are more likely to own a firearm than females and that males tend to use more violent and lethal methods.…”

“…Being male is perhaps the greatest risk factor, accounting for the majority of suicides across Europe. 4 Research would also tend to suggest that males make up a greater proportion of firearms suicides than other suicides, 4 in part explained by the reality that males are more likely to own, and have access to, a firearm than are females. 5,6 There have been mixed findings on the relationship between age and firearms suicide.…”