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Li Z, Cai Z, Yip PS. One stream, two channels? A parallel-process latent class growth model of homicide rates and suicide rates in 183 countries, between 2000 and 2019. SSM Popul Health 2023; 22:101376. [PMID: 36950507 PMCID: PMC10025147 DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2022] [Revised: 12/09/2022] [Accepted: 03/01/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Suicide and homicide have long been viewed in Western culture as moral, ethical and legal equivalents. This view has underpinned many theoretical and empirical explorations into their relationship over the centuries. However, there has been little evaluation of longitudinal heterogeneity. Methods Suicide and homicide rates in 183 countries between 2000 and 2019 were collected from the World Health Organization Global Health Observatory Repository. Corresponding structural variables (i.e., GDP per capita, unemployment rate, percentage of urban population, percentage of elderly population, and Gini index) were acquired from The World Bank and Standardized World Income Inequality Database. Parallel-process latent class growth modelling was applied to identify different classes within the joint suicide and homicide rate trajectories. Multinomial logistic regression examined relationships between the structural covariates and trajectory classes. Results Four trajectory classes were identified, two with inverse relationships between suicide and homicide, and two with parallel relationships: 1) countries with increasing suicide rates and decreasing homicide rates ("suicide up, homicide down": UD, n = 41) or 2) countries with decreasing suicide rates and increasing homicide rates ("suicide down, homicide up": DU, n = 17); and 3) countries where suicide and homicide rates both trended up (UU, n = 19), or 4) both trended down (DD, n = 106). A higher average annual growth rate (AAGR) of GDP per capita was related to an increased possibility of being in DD than in DU. Countries with higher AAGR in unemployment rates were more likely to be in UD and UU than in DD, while those with higher AAGR in urbanization were less likely to be in UD than in DD. Conclusion The over-time relationship between suicide and homicide is heterogenous and complex. It is influenced differently by GDP per capita, urbanization and unemployment in different countries, and it is not well described by a single theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zixu Li
- Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Ziyi Cai
- Population Health Sciences Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, United Kingdom
- Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Corresponding author. Baddiley-Clark Building, Richardson Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
| | - Paul S.F. Yip
- Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Corresponding author. The HKJC Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, The University of Hong Kong, 2/F, The HKJC Building for Interdisciplinary Research, 5 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.
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Lange S, Cayetano C, Jiang H, Tausch A, Oliveira e Souza R. Contextual factors associated with country-level suicide mortality in the Americas, 2000-2019: a cross-sectional ecological study. LANCET REGIONAL HEALTH. AMERICAS 2023; 20:100450. [PMID: 37095770 PMCID: PMC10122114 DOI: 10.1016/j.lana.2023.100450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2022] [Revised: 09/23/2022] [Accepted: 02/01/2023] [Indexed: 04/26/2023]
Abstract
Background The suicide mortality rate in the Region of the Americas has been increasing, while decreasing in all other World Health Organization regions; highlighting the urgent need for enhanced prevention efforts. Gaining a better understanding of population-level contextual factors associated with suicide may aid such efforts. We aimed to evaluate the contextual factors associated with country-level, sex-specific suicide mortality rates in the Region of the Americas for 2000-2019. Methods Annual sex-specific age-standardized suicide mortality estimates were obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Estimates database. To investigate the sex-specific suicide mortality rate trend over time in the region, we performed joinpoint regression analysis. We then applied a linear mixed model to estimate the effects of specific contextual factors on the suicide mortality rate across countries in the region over time. All potentially relevant contextual factors, obtained from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 covariates and The World Bank, were selected in a step-wise manner. Findings We found that the mean country-level suicide mortality rate among males in the region decreased as health expenditure per capita and the proportion of the country with a moderate population density increased; and increased as the death rate due to homicide, prevalence of intravenous drug use, risk-weighted prevalence of alcohol use, and unemployment rate increased. The mean country-level suicide mortality rate among females in the region decreased as the number of employed medical doctors per 10,000 population and the proportion of the country with a moderate population density increased; and increased when relative education inequality and unemployment rate increased. Interpretation Although there was some overlap, the contextual factors that significantly impacted the suicide mortality rate among males and females were largely different, which mirrors the current literature on individual-level risk factors for suicide. Taken together, our data supports that sex should be considered when adapting and testing suicide risk reduction interventions, and when developing national suicide prevention strategies. Funding This work received no funding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shannon Lange
- Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Corresponding author. Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Ursula Franklin Street, T521, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 2S1.
| | - Claudina Cayetano
- Mental Health and Substance Use Unit, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Huan Jiang
- Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Amy Tausch
- Mental Health and Substance Use Unit, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA
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Machado DB, Williamson E, Pescarini JM, Alves FJO, Castro-de-Araujo LFS, Ichihara MY, Rodrigues LC, Araya R, Patel V, Barreto ML. Relationship between the Bolsa Família national cash transfer programme and suicide incidence in Brazil: A quasi-experimental study. PLoS Med 2022; 19:e1004000. [PMID: 35584178 PMCID: PMC9162363 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Revised: 06/02/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Socioeconomic factors have been consistently associated with suicide, and economic recessions are linked to rising suicide rates. However, evidence on the impact of socioeconomic interventions to reduce suicide rates is limited. This study investigates the association of the world's largest conditional cash transfer programme with suicide rates in a cohort of half of the Brazilian population. METHODS AND FINDINGS We used data from the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort, covering a 12-year period (2004 to 2015). It comprises socioeconomic and demographic information on 114,008,317 individuals, linked to the "Bolsa Família" programme (BFP) payroll database, and nationwide death registration data. BFP was implemented by the Brazilian government in 2004. We estimated the association of BFP using inverse probability of treatment weighting, estimating the weights for BFP beneficiaries (weight = 1) and nonbeneficiaries by the inverse probability of receiving treatment (weight = E(ps)/(1-E(ps))). We used an average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) estimator and fitted Poisson models to estimate the incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for suicide associated with BFP experience. At the cohort baseline, BFP beneficiaries were younger (median age 27.4 versus 35.4), had higher unemployment rates (56% versus 32%), a lower level of education, resided in rural areas, and experienced worse household conditions. There were 36,742 suicide cases among the 76,532,158 individuals aged 10 years, or older, followed for 489,500,000 person-years at risk. Suicide rates among beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries were 5.4 (95% CI = 5.32, 5.47, p < 0.001) and 10.7 (95% CI = 10.51, 10.87, p < 0.001) per 100,000 individuals, respectively. BFP beneficiaries had a lower suicide rate than nonbeneficiaries (IRR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.42, 0.45, p < 0.001). This association was stronger among women (IRR = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.33, 0.38, p < 0.001), and individuals aged between 25 and 59 (IRR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.40, 0.43, p < 0.001). Study limitations include a lack of control for previous mental disorders and access to means of suicide, and the possible under-registration of suicide cases due to stigma. CONCLUSIONS We observed that BFP was associated with lower suicide rates, with similar results in all sensitivity analyses. These findings should help to inform policymakers and health authorities to better design suicide prevention strategies. Targeting social determinants using cash transfer programmes could be important in limiting suicide, which is predicted to rise with the economic recession, consequent to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daiane Borges Machado
- Centre for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Salvador, Brazil
- Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Elizabeth Williamson
- Department of Medical Statistics and Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London, United Kingdom
| | - Julia M. Pescarini
- Centre for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Salvador, Brazil
- Department of Medical Statistics and Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London, United Kingdom
| | - Flavia J. O. Alves
- Centre for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Salvador, Brazil
| | - Luís F. S. Castro-de-Araujo
- Centre for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Salvador, Brazil
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
| | - Maria Yury Ichihara
- Centre for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Salvador, Brazil
| | - Laura C. Rodrigues
- Centre for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Salvador, Brazil
- Department of Medical Statistics and Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London, United Kingdom
| | - Ricardo Araya
- Centre for Global Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College, London, United Kingdom
| | - Vikram Patel
- Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Global Health and Population, Chan School of Public Health, Harvard, United States of America
| | - Maurício L. Barreto
- Centre for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Salvador, Brazil
- Institute of Collective Health, Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Brazil
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Harding D, Pitcairn CFM, Machado DB, De Araujo LFSC, Millett C, Hone T. Interpersonal violence and depression in Brazil: A cross-sectional analysis of the 2019 National Health Survey. PLOS GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 2:e0001207. [PMID: 36962903 PMCID: PMC10021715 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0001207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Depression and interpersonal violence are issues of increasing public health concern globally, especially in low-and-middle income countries. Despite the known relationship between interpersonal violence and an increased risk of depression, there is a need to further characterise the experience of depression in those who have experienced violence, to better develop screening and treatment interventions. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted on responses from the 2019 Brazilian National Health Survey. The prevalence of depression (both clinician-diagnosed, and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) screened) were estimated by type of violence experienced in the preceding 12 months (none, physical violence, sexual violence, physical and sexual violence, or threat of violence). Logistic regression models assessed the associations between violence and depression after adjusting for socioeconomic and demographic factors. Of 88,531 respondents, 8.1% experienced any type of violence. Compared to those not experiencing violence, those who experienced any type of violence had a higher prevalence of clinician-diagnosed or PHQ-9-screened depression (e.g. the prevalence of clinician-diagnosed depression was 18.8% for those experiencing sexual violence compared to 9.5% for those not experiencing violence). Both undiagnosed and untreated depression were also more prevalent in those experiencing any type of violence. In logistic regression models, any experience of violence was associated with a higher odds of depression (e.g. aOR = 3.75 (95% CI: 3.06-4.59) for PHQ-9-detected depression). Experiencing violence was also associated with a higher likelihood of having depression which was undiagnosed (e.g. in those who experienced sexual violence: aOR of 3.20, 95% CI 1.81-5.67) or untreated (e.g. in those who experienced physical and sexual violence: aOR = 8.06, 95% CI 3.44-18.9). These findings highlight the need to consider screening for depression in those affected by violence, and to prioritise mental healthcare in communities affected by violence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Harding
- Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Public Health Policy Evaluation Unity, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Charlie F M Pitcairn
- Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Daiane Borges Machado
- Centre for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health, Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Salvador, Brazil
| | | | - Christopher Millett
- Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Public Health Policy Evaluation Unity, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Thomas Hone
- Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Public Health Policy Evaluation Unity, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
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Abio A, Owusu PN, Posti JP, Bärnighausen T, Shaikh MA, Shankar V, Lowery Wilson M. Cross-national examination of adolescent suicidal behavior: a pooled and multi-level analysis of 193,484 students from 53 LMIC countries. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2022; 57:1603-1613. [PMID: 35445842 PMCID: PMC9288956 DOI: 10.1007/s00127-022-02287-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2021] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Suicide is a leading cause of adolescent mortality worldwide. We aimed to estimate the prevalence and identify individual-level and country-level factors which might explain the variability in suicidal behavior among students in 53 low to middle income countries. METHODS We used data on adolescents aged 12-16 years from the Global School-based Student Health Surveys from 2009-2016. The suicidal behaviors investigated included suicide ideation, suicidal planning and suicide attempt. The prevalence was estimated for 53 countries, while a multilevel logistic regression analysis (33 countries) was used to investigate the associations of these behaviors with individual and country-level contextual risk factors. The contextual variables included the Gini Coefficient, Gross Domestic Product per capita, pupil-to-teacher ratios, population density, homicide rates, law criminalizing suicide and the night light index. RESULTS The overall prevalence of suicide ideation, making a plan and suicide attempt were 10.4%, 10.3% and 11.0%, respectively. The highest prevalence rates reported were from the Americas. The strongest risk factors associated with suicidal behavior included anxiety, loneliness, no close friends and the substance abuse. Among the country level variables, the night light index was associated with making a suicide plan and attempting suicide. CONCLUSION The non-significant country level findings were not entirely surprising given the mixed results from prior studies. Additional knowledge is thus achieved with regard to country level factors associated with suicidal behavior across adolescent populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Abio
- Injury Epidemiology and Prevention (IEP) Research Group, Turku Brain Injury Centre, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Turku, Finland ,Heidelberg Institute of Global Health (HIGH), University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Priscilla N. Owusu
- Heidelberg Institute of Global Health (HIGH), University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Jussi P. Posti
- Department of Neurosurgery and Turku Brain Injury Center, Neurocenter, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku,
Turku, Finland
| | - Till Bärnighausen
- Heidelberg Institute of Global Health (HIGH), University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Masood Ali Shaikh
- Injury Epidemiology and Prevention (IEP) Research Group, Turku Brain Injury Centre, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Viswanathan Shankar
- Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY USA
| | - Michael Lowery Wilson
- Heidelberg Institute of Global Health (HIGH), University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
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