Giancarlo Giupponi1, Andreas Conca1, Marco Innamorati2, Alberto Forte3, David Lester4, Denise Erbuto3, Roger Pycha5, Paolo Girardi3, Anne Maria Möller-Leimkühler6, Maurizio Pompili7. 1. Department of Psychiatry, Bolzano, Italy. 2. Università Europea di Roma, Rome, Italy. 3. Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Organs, Suicide Prevention Center, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, 1035-1039 Via di Grottarossa, 00189, Rome, Italy. 4. The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, New Jersey, USA. 5. Department of Psychiatry, Brunico, Italy. 6. Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany. 7. Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Organs, Suicide Prevention Center, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, 1035-1039 Via di Grottarossa, 00189, Rome, Italy. maurizio.pompili@uniroma1.it.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to study gender differences in the suicides in South Tyrol. METHODS: Between 2000 and 2009, the Department of Psychiatry of Bolzano administered questionnaires to the Provincial Departments of Public Health requesting information about causes and methods of completed suicides. Each suicide was then examined using a psychological autopsy methodology. RESULTS: There were 448 suicides studied (339 men and 109 women). Compared with men, women were more likely to live alone, have attempted suicide in the past, and to have contacted their general practitioners in the last weeks before dying. They were also less likely to have an alcohol use disorder, have used violent methods of suicide, and be 35 years or younger. CONCLUSION: The differences identified for South Tyrolean suicides confirmed previously reported gender differences in employment and marital status, history of a previous suicide attempt, and alcohol abuse. Appropriate gender-based preventive interventions are needed.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to study gender differences in the suicides in South Tyrol. METHODS: Between 2000 and 2009, the Department of Psychiatry of Bolzano administered questionnaires to the Provincial Departments of Public Health requesting information about causes and methods of completed suicides. Each suicide was then examined using a psychological autopsy methodology. RESULTS: There were 448 suicides studied (339 men and 109 women). Compared with men, women were more likely to live alone, have attempted suicide in the past, and to have contacted their general practitioners in the last weeks before dying. They were also less likely to have an alcohol use disorder, have used violent methods of suicide, and be 35 years or younger. CONCLUSION: The differences identified for South Tyrolean suicides confirmed previously reported gender differences in employment and marital status, history of a previous suicide attempt, and alcohol abuse. Appropriate gender-based preventive interventions are needed.
Authors: A Värnik; K Kõlves; C M van der Feltz-Cornelis; A Marusic; H Oskarsson; A Palmer; T Reisch; G Scheerder; E Arensman; E Aromaa; G Giupponi; R Gusmäo; M Maxwell; C Pull; A Szekely; V Pérez Sola; U Hegerl Journal: J Epidemiol Community Health Date: 2008-06 Impact factor: 3.710