Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T04:19:14.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Suicide trends and characteristics in Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Carolina de Mello-Santos
Affiliation:
Psychiatry Institute of the Universidade de São Paulo School of Medicine, São Paulo, Brazil, email [email protected]
José Manoel Bertolote
Affiliation:
World Health Organization Team on Management of Mental and Brain Disorders
Yuan-Pang Wang
Affiliation:
Psychiatry Institute of the Universidade de São Paulo School of Medicine, São Paulo, Brazil, email [email protected] Santo Amaro School of Medicine, UNISA, São Paulo, Brazil
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Brazil is the largest and most populous country in South America (in 2002 the population was approximately 175 million). Although life expectancy in Brazil has increased, suicide and other forms of injury-related mortality, such as homicide and accident, have increased as a proportion of overall mortality (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, 1984; Brazil Ministry of Health, 2001). The suicide rate in Brazil (3.0–4.0 per 100 000 inhabitants) is not considered high in global terms (World Health Organization, 1999). Nevertheless, it has followed the world tendency towards growth: during 1980–2000, the suicide rate in Brazil increased by 21%. Elderly people present the highest suicide rates in absolute numbers, but the alarming finding in the Brazilian data is that the youth population is increasingly dying by suicide (Mello-Santos et al, 2005). This statistic partially confirms a forecast by Diekstra & Guilbinat (1993) that the number of deaths by suicide would dramatically increase over the next decades, mainly in developing countries, including Latin America. In these regions, socio-economic factors (such as an increase in divorce and unemployment and a decrease in religiosity) increase the risk of self-harm. We discuss the reasons for the low suicide rate in Brazil and highlight the socio-economic factors affecting its increase among the youth population in particular.

Type
Thematic papers - Suicide
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2006

References

Bertolote, J. M. & Fleischmann, A. (2002) A global perspective on the epidemiology of suicide. Suicidologi, 7, 67.Google Scholar
Brazil Ministry of Health (2001) Brazilian Health Statistics Yearbook. Available at http://portal.saude.gov.br/portal/saude.Google Scholar
Diekstra, R. F. W. & Guilbinat, W. (1993) The epidemiology of suicidal behaviour: a review of three continents. World Health Statistics Quarterly, 46, 5268.Google ScholarPubMed
Gawryszewski, V. P. & Mercy, J. A. (2004) Homicide trends and characteristics Brazil, 1980–2002. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 53, 169171.Google Scholar
Grossi, R. & Vassan, G. A. (2002) Mortalidade por suicídio no município de Maringá, Paraná. [Suicide mortality in Maringá City, Paraná.] Jornal Brasileiro de Psiquiatria, 510, 101111.Google Scholar
Lima, J. S. & Reis, C. A. (1995) Poisoning due to illegal use of carbamates as a rodenticide in Rio de Janeiro. Journal of Toxicology. Clinical Toxicology, 33, 687690.Google Scholar
Marchesan, W. G., da Silva, F. F., Canalli, J. E., et al (1997) Suicide attempt by burning in Brazil. Burns, 23, 270271.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mello-Jorge, M. H. P. (1988) investigação sobre a mortalidade por acidentes e violěncia na infância. [Mortality investigation of accidents and infant mortality.] PhD thesis, Faculdade de Saúde Pública da USP.Google Scholar
Mello-Jorge, M. H. P., Gawryszewski, V. P. & Latorre, M. R. D. O. (1997) Análise dos dados de mortalidade, São Paulo. [Data analysis of mortality, São Paulo.] Revista de Saude Publica, 31 (suppl. 4), 525.Google Scholar
Mello-Santos, C., Bertolote, J. M. & Wang, Y. P. (2005) Epidemiology of suicide in Brazil (1980–2000): characterization of age and gender rates of suicide. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, 27, 131134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (1984) Mortality in Brazilian capitals 1930–1980. Reunion, Analysis, Diffusion of Health Information/Data, 3, 18.Google Scholar
Souza, D. A., Marchesan, W. G. & Greene, L. J. (1998) Epidemiological data and mortality rate of patients hospitalized with burns in Brazil. Burns, 24, 433438.Google Scholar
Souza, E. R. (1991) Violěncia velada e revelada: estudo epidemiológico da mortalidade por causas externas em Duque de Caxias – RJ. [Concealed and revealed violence: epidemiological study of external causes of mortality in Duque de Caxias – RioJaneiro.] Masters dissertation, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro.Google Scholar
Souza, E. R., Minayo, M. C. S. & Malaquias, J. (2002) Suicídio de jovens nas principais capitais do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro. [Youth suicide in major Brazilian capitals, Rio de Janeiro.] Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 18, 673683.Google Scholar
Teixeira, A. M. F. & Villar Luis, M. A. (1997) Distúrbios psiquiátricos, tentativas de suicídio, lesões e envenenamento em adolescentes atendidos em uma unidade de emergěncia, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, 1988–1993. [Mental disorder, suicide attempt, lesions and assistance in an emergency unit for youth poisoning, Riberão Preto, São Paulo, 1988–1993.] Cademos de Saúde Pública, 13, 517525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Health Organization (1992) International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (10th revision) (ICD–10). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1999) Figures and Facts About Suicide (doc. WHO/MNH/MBD/99.1). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.