Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T13:55:34.077Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Time trends in method-specific suicide rates in Japan, 1990–2011

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 November 2014

E. Yoshioka ,
S. J. Hanley ,
Y. Kawanishi  and
Y. Saijo
E. Yoshioka*
Affiliation:
Department of Health Science, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Japan
S. J. Hanley
Affiliation:
Department of Women's Health Medicine, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan
Y. Kawanishi
Affiliation:
Department of Health Science, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Japan
Y. Saijo
Affiliation:
Department of Health Science, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Japan
*
*Address for correspondence: E. Yoshioka, Department of Health Science, Asahikawa Medical University, Japan. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background.

Little is known about whether particular suicide methods have contributed differently to the recent unfavourable suicide mortality trends in Japan. Analysing such trends may shed light on the effect of potentially preventable factors, such as the impact of restricting access to certain popular suicide methods, on overall rates. Therefore, we assessed recent trends in method-specific suicide by gender and age in Japan.

Method.

Suicide mortality and population data between 1990 and 2011 were obtained from the Vital Statistics of Japan and used to calculate method-specific mortality rates. Suicide methods were divided into seven groups: overdose, gases, hanging, drowning, cutting, jumping and other means. Age was divided into four groups: 15–24, 25–44, 45–64 and 65+ years. We applied joinpoint regression to the data and quantified the observed changes.

Results.

The results of the joinpoint regression analyses showed a sharp increase in overall suicide rates for males and females of all ages until the late 1990s. Suicide from hanging and jumping, in particular, contributed to this increase. After 2000, an increasing trend in overall suicide rates in both males and females aged 15–24 and 25–44 years was observed, with overdose, gases and hanging contributing to this increasing trend.

Conclusions.

Our findings revealed that different suicide methods varied in their contribution to the recent overall suicide transition in Japan. Regarding factors associated with the recent increase in suicides by overdose, gases, hanging and jumping, further research is needed in order to promote and implement effective means restriction strategies.

Keywords

Epidemiologymethodssuicidetime trends
Type
Original Articles
Information
Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 58 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmad, OB, Boschi-Pinto, C, Lopez, AD, Murray, CJ, Lozano, R, Inoue, M (2001). Age Standardization of Rates: a New WHO Standard. Retrieved 17 March 2014 from http://www.who.int/healthinfo/paper31.pdf.Google Scholar
Ajdacic-Gross, V, Weiss, MG, Ring, M, Hepp, U, Bopp, M, Gutzwiller, F, Rossler, W (2008). Methods of suicide: international suicide patterns derived from the WHO mortality database. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 86, 726–732.Google Scholar
Amos, T, Appleby, L, Kiernan, K (2001). Changes in rates of suicide by car exhaust asphyxiation in England and Wales. Psychological Medicine 31, 935–939.Google Scholar
Bando, DH, Brunoni, AR, Fernandes, TG, Bensenor, IM, Lotufo, PA (2012). Suicide rates and trends in Sao Paulo, Brazil, according to gender, age and demographic aspects: a joinpoint regression analysis. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria 34, 286–293.Google Scholar
Baumert, J, Erazo, N, Ruf, E, Ladwig, KH (2008). Time trends in suicide mortality vary in choice of methods: an analysis of 145,865 fatal suicide cases in Germany 1991–2002. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 43, 913–919.Google Scholar
Beautrais, A (2007). Suicide by jumping. Crisis 28, 58–63.Google Scholar
Bridge, JA, Greenhouse, JB, Sheftall, AH, Fabio, A, Campo, JV, Kelleher, KJ (2010). Changes in suicide rates by hanging and/or suffocation and firearms among young persons aged 10–24 years in the United States: 1992–2006. Journal of Adolescent Health 46, 503–505.Google Scholar
Cabinet Office of Japan (2013). The White Paper for Countermeasures to Suicide 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2014 from http://www8.cao.go.jp/jisatsutaisaku/whitepaper/en/w-2012/summary.html Google Scholar
Cantor, CH, Baume, PJM (1998). Access to methods of suicide: what impact? Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 32, 8–14.Google Scholar
Chang, SS, Gunnell, D, Sterne, JA, Lu, TH, Cheng, AT (2009). Was the economic crisis 1997–1998 responsible for rising suicide rates in East/Southeast Asia? A time-trend analysis for Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. Social Science and Medicine 68, 1322–1331.Google Scholar
Gagne, M, Robitaille, Y, Hamel, D, St-Laurent, D (2010). Firearms regulation and declining rates of male suicide in Quebec. Injury Prevention 16, 247–253.Google Scholar
Gunnell, D, Bennewith, O, Hawton, K, Simkin, S, Kapur, N (2005). The epidemiology and prevention of suicide by hanging: a systematic review. International Journal of Epidemiology 34, 433–442.Google Scholar
Gunnell, D, Fernando, R, Hewagama, M, Priyangika, WD, Konradsen, F, Eddleston, M (2007). The impact of pesticide regulations on suicide in Sri Lanka. International Journal of Epidemiology 36, 1235–1242.Google Scholar
Hawton, K, Simkin, S, Deeks, J, Cooper, J, Johnston, A, Waters, K, Arundel, M, Bernal, W, Gunson, B, Hudson, M, Suri, D, Simpson, K (2004). UK legislation on analgesic packs: before and after study of long term effect on poisonings. BMJ 329, 1076.Google Scholar
International Narcotics Control Board (2010). Report of the International Narcotics Control Board on the Availability of Internationally Controlled Drugs: Ensuring Adequate Access for Medical and Scientific Purposes. Retrieved 17 March 2014 from https://www.incb.org/documents/Publications/AnnualReports/AR2010/Supplement-AR10_availability_English.pdf Google Scholar
Ito, T (2007). Asian currency crisis and the International Monetary Fund, 10 Years Later: overview. Asian Economic Policy Review 2, 16–49.Google Scholar
Kim, HJ, Fay, MP, Feuer, EJ, Midthune, DN (2000). Permutation tests for joinpoint regression with applications to cancer rates. Statistics in Medicine 19, 335–351.Google Scholar
Klieve, H, Barnes, M, De Leo, D (2009). Controlling firearms use in Australia: has the 1996 gun law reform produced the decrease in rates of suicide with this method? Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 44, 285–292.Google Scholar
Kolves, K, De Leo, D (2014). Are immigrants responsible for the recent decline in Australian suicide rates? Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, doi:10.1017/S2045796014000122.Google Scholar
Kreitman, N (1976). The coal gas story. United Kingdom suicide rates, 1960–71. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine 30, 86–93.Google Scholar
Lin, JJ, Lu, TH (2008). Suicide mortality trends by sex, age and method in Taiwan, 1971–2005. BMC Public Health 8, 6.Google Scholar
Liu, KY, Beautrais, A, Caine, E, Chan, K, Chao, A, Conwell, Y, Law, C, Lee, D, Li, P, Yip, P (2007). Charcoal burning suicides in Hong Kong and urban Taiwan: an illustration of the impact of a novel suicide method on overall regional rates. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 61, 248–253.Google Scholar
Loftin, C, McDowall, D, Wiersema, B, Cottey, TJ (1991). Effects of restrictive licensing of handguns on homicide and suicide in the District of Columbia. New England Journal of Medicine 325, 1615–1620.Google Scholar
Mann, JJ, Apter, A, Bertolote, J, Beautrais, A, Currier, D, Haas, A, Hegerl, U, Lonnqvist, J, Malone, K, Marusic, A, Mehlum, L, Patton, G, Phillips, M, Rutz, W, Rihmer, Z, Schmidtke, A, Shaffer, D, Silverman, M, Takahashi, Y, Varnik, A, Wasserman, D, Yip, P, Hendin, H (2005). Suicide prevention strategies: a systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Association 294, 2064–2074.Google Scholar
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (1992). Vital Statistics 1990 (in Japanese). Health, Labour and Welfare Statistics Association: Tokyo, Japan.Google Scholar
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (1993). Vital Statistics 1991 (in Japanese). Health, Labour and Welfare Statistics Association: Tokyo, Japan.Google Scholar
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (2012). Vital Statistics 1992–2011 (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 March 2014 from http://www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/GL08020101.do?_toGL08020101_&tstatCode=000001028897 Google Scholar
Morii, D, Miyagatani, Y, Nakamae, N, Murao, M, Taniyama, K (2010). Japanese experience of hydrogen sulfide: the suicide craze in 2008. Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology 5, 28.Google Scholar
National Cancer Institute (2014). Joinpoint User's Guide 4.1.0. Retrieved 30 July 2014 from http://surveillance.cancer.gov/joinpoint/Joinpoint_Help_4.1.0.pdf Google Scholar
Nordentoft, M, Qin, P, Helweg-Larsen, K, Juel, K (2006). Time-trends in method-specific suicide rates compared with the availability of specific compounds. the Danish experience. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry 60, 97–106.Google Scholar
Qiu, D, Katanoda, K, Marugame, T, Sobue, T (2009). A Joinpoint regression analysis of long-term trends in cancer mortality in Japan (1958–2004). International Journal of Cancer 124, 443–448.Google Scholar
Ries, LA, Wingo, PA, Miller, DS, Howe, HL, Weir, HK, Rosenberg, HM, Vernon, SW, Cronin, K, Edwards, BK (2000). The annual report to the nation on the status of cancer, 1973–1997, with a special section on colorectal cancer. Cancer 88, 2398–2424.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, T, Malvezzi, M, Chatenoud, L, Bosetti, C, Levi, F, Negri, E, La Vecchia, C (2006). Trends in mortality from coronary heart and cerebrovascular diseases in the Americas: 1970–2000. Heart 92, 453–460.Google Scholar
Shah, A (2007). The relationship between suicide rates and age: an analysis of multinational data from the World Health Organization. International Psychogeriatrics 19, 1141–1152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sim, K, Su, A, Fujii, S, Yang, SY, Chong, MY, Ungvari, GS, Si, T, Chung, EK, Tsang, HY, Chan, YH, Heckers, S, Shinfuku, N, Tan, CH (2004). Antipsychotic polypharmacy in patients with schizophrenia: a multicentre comparative study in East Asia. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 58, 178–183.Google Scholar
Thomas, K, Gunnell, D (2010). Suicide in England and Wales 1861–2007: a time-trends analysis. International Journal of Epidemiology 39, 1464–1475.Google Scholar
Vichi, M, Masocco, M, Pompili, M, Lester, D, Tatarelli, R, Vanacore, N (2010). Suicide mortality in Italy from 1980 to 2002. Psychiatry Research 175, 89–97.Google Scholar
Watanabe, R, Furukawa, M, Nakamura, R, Ogura, Y (2006). Analysis of the Socioeconomic Difficulties Affecting the Suicide Rate in Japan. Retrieved 30 July 2014 from http://www.kier.kyoto-u.ac.jp/DP/DP626.pdf Google Scholar
WHO (1977). The Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. World Health Organization: Geneva, Switzerland.Google Scholar
WHO (1992). The Tenth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. World Health Organization: Geneva, Switzerland.Google Scholar
WHO (2012). Suicide Prevention (SUPRE). Retrieved 18 March 2014 from http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/ Google Scholar
Yip, PS, Law, CK, Fu, KW, Law, YW, Wong, PW, Xu, Y (2010). Restricting the means of suicide by charcoal burning. British Journal of Psychiatry 196, 241–242.Google Scholar
Yip, PS, Caine, E, Yousuf, S, Chang, SS, Wu, KC, Chen, YY (2012). Means restriction for suicide prevention. Lancet 379, 2393–2399.Google Scholar
Yoshioka, E, Hanley, SJ, Kawanishi, Y, Saijo, Y (2014). Epidemic of charcoal burning suicide in Japan. British Journal of Psychiatry 204, 274–282.Google Scholar