Suicide mortality among permanent residents in Jing'an district of Shanghai, 1975-2014

Objective To analyze suicide mortality among census registered residents in Jing'an district of Shanghai from 1975 through 2014 for providing a scientific basis for suicide prevention and intervention.Methods The data were extracted from Death Registry Database of Jing'an district; change trend and gender and age difference in suicide mortality during the 40 years were analyzed.Results From 1975 to 2014, the total number of suicide deaths in the district were 1104 and the proportion of suicidal deaths in the total deaths caused by injuries was 15.06%.Suicide was the second cause of deaths among all the deaths due to injuries.The average crude death rate of suicide was 6.84/100000 for male residents and 6.67/100000 for female residents and there was no significant gender difference observed.Of all the suicide deaths, 36.32% and 43.93% were at the ages of 15-44 and ≥65 years and the suicide mortality rate was 17.42/100000 for the residents aged ≥65 years during the period.The suicide mortality showed a significant linear decline from 1975 through 2014 based on the results of time-series fitting analysis with AUTOREG process of SAS software(t=-8.72, P<0.01).Conclusion Government and society should continue to pay great attention to the prevention of suicide in general population, especially among the elderly.