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Cited by 111Suicide and Self-Harm StudiesHomicide, Infanticide, and Child AbuseInjury Epidemiology and Prevention

Changing trends in suicide rates in south korea from 1993 to 2016: a descriptive study.

Open access
Lee, Sang-Uk, Park, Jong-Ik, Lee, Soojung, Oh, In-Hwan, Choi, Joong-Myung, Oh, Chang-Mo·2018·BMJ Open
DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023144PMC PMC6169778
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Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The South Korean government has recently implemented policies to prevent suicide. However, there were few studies examining the recent changing trends in suicide rates. This study aims to examine the changing trends in suicide rates by time and age group. DESIGN: A descriptive study using nationwide mortality rates. SETTING: Data on the nationwide cause of death from 1993 to 2016 were obtained from Statistics Korea. PARTICIPANTS: People living in South Korea. INTERVENTIONS: Implementation of national suicide prevention policies (first: year 2004, second: year 2009). PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Suicide was defined as 'X60-X84' code according to the ICD-10 code. Age-standardised suicide rates were estimated, and a Joinpoint regression model was applied to describe the trends in suicide rate. RESULTS: From 2010 to 2016, the suicide rates in South Korea have been decreasing by 5.5% (95% CI -10.3% to -0.5%) annually. In terms of sex, the suicide rate for men had increased by 5.0% (95% CI 3.6% to 6.4%) annually from 1993 to 2010. However, there has been no statistically significant change from 2010 to 2016. For women, the suicide rate had increased by 7.5% (95% CI 6.3% to 8.7%) annually from 1993 to 2009, but since 2009, the suicide rate has been significantly decreasing by 6.1% (95% CI -9.1% to -3.0%) annually until 2016. In terms of the age group, the suicide rates among women of almost all age groups have been decreasing since 2010; however, the suicide rates of men aged between 30 and 49 years showed continuously increasing trends. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that there were differences in the changing trends in suicide rate by sex and age groups. Our finding suggests that there was a possible relationship between implementation of second national suicide prevention policies and a decline in suicide rate.

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  • Over the past 20 years, suicide rates have risen dramatically in the United States and other countries.

    “The past 20 years have seen dramatic rises in suicide rates in the United States and other countries around the world (Curtin et al., 2016; Lee et al., 2018; Martini et al., 2019).”

    From The Social Roots of Suicide: Theorizing How the External Social World Matters to Suicide and Suicide Prevention (2021) · cites this paper as Lee et al., 2018

    The Results section (“Trends in overall suicide rates”; page unavailable) reports a substantial rise in South Korea from 1993 to 2010, supporting the claim for one of the other countries. It also reports a decline from 2010 to 2016. The Discussion mentions a rise in the United States only among people aged 40–64 from 2005 to 2010, not across the US population over 20 years. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [11]Kang HG Social welfare delivery reform: achievements and beyond. Health and Welfare Policy Forum 2012; 4: 35– 49.
  2. [12]Lee SY Policy options for the improvement of suicide prevention programs. Health and Welfare Policy Forum 2015; 4: 34– 49.

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Authors
Lee, S.-U., Park, J.-I., Lee, S., Oh, I.-H., Choi, J.-M., & Oh, C.-M.
Affiliations
  • Kyung Hee University (KR)
  • Kangwon National University (KR)
  • Department of Nursing, Kyungnam University, Changwon, Republic of Korea
Corresponding author
Oh, Chang-Mo
ORCID
Venue
BMJ Open
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2018-09
Volume
8
Issue
9
Pages
e023144
ISSN
2044-6055 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023144
PMC
PMC6169778
OpenAlex
W2894128554
Cited by
111
References
21
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 7
FWCI
10.84
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • BMJ Open (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
Funders
Kyung Hee University
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Injury Epidemiology and Prevention
Keywords
suicide rates, suicide trends, South Korea, suicide prevention policy, sex differences in suicide, age-specific suicide rates, mortality trends, joinpoint regression
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Suicide, Age Distribution, Sex Distribution, Young Adult, Republic of Korea

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