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BackgroundIn Europe, men have lower rates of attempted suicide compared to women and at the same time a higher rate of completed suicides, indicating major gender differences in lethality of suicidal behaviour. The aim of this study was to analyse the extent to which these gender differences in lethality can be explained by factors such as choice of more lethal methods or lethality differences within the same suicide method or age. In addition, we explored gender differences in the intentionality of suicide attempts.Methods and FindingsMethods. Design: Epidemiological study using a combination of self-report and official data. Setting: Mental health care services in four European countries: Germany, Hungary, Ireland, and Portugal. Data basis: Completed suicides derived from official statistics for each country (767 acts, 74.4% male) and assessed suicide attempts excluding habitual intentional self-harm (8,175 acts, 43.2% male).Main Outcome Measures and Data Analysis. We collected data on suicidal acts in eight regions of four European countries participating in the EU-funded “OSPI-Europe”-project (www.ospi-europe.com). We calculated method-specific lethality using the number of completed suicides per method * 100 / (number of completed suicides per method + number of attempted suicides per method). We tested gender differences in the distribution of suicidal acts for significance by using the χ2-test for two-by-two tables. We assessed the effect sizes with phi coefficients (φ). We identified predictors of lethality with a binary logistic regression analysis. Poisson regression analysis examined the contribution of choice of methods and method-specific lethality to gender differences in the lethality of suicidal acts.Findings Main ResultsSuicidal acts (fatal and non-fatal) were 3.4 times more lethal in men than in women (lethality 13.91% (regarding 4106 suicidal acts) versus 4.05% (regarding 4836 suicidal acts)), the difference being significant for the methods hanging, jumping, moving objects, sharp objects and poisoning by substances other than drugs. Median age at time of suicidal behaviour (35–44 years) did not differ between males and females. The overall gender difference in lethality of suicidal behaviour was explained by males choosing more lethal suicide methods (odds ratio (OR) = 2.03; 95% CI = 1.65 to 2.50; p < 0.000001) and additionally, but to a lesser degree, by a higher lethality of suicidal acts for males even within the same method (OR = 1.64; 95% CI = 1.32 to 2.02; p = 0.000005). Results of a regression analysis revealed neither age nor country differences were significant predictors for gender differences in the lethality of suicidal acts. The proportion of serious suicide attempts among all non-fatal suicidal acts with known intentionality (NFSAi) was significantly higher in men (57.1%; 1,207 of 2,115 NFSAi) than in women (48.6%; 1,508 of 3,100 NFSAi) (χ2 = 35.74; p < 0.000001).Main limitations of the studyDue to restrictive data security regulations to ensure anonymity in Ireland, specific ages could not be provided because of the relatively low absolute numbers of suicide in the Irish intervention and control region. Therefore, analyses of the interaction between gender and age could only be conducted for three of the four countries. Attempted suicides were assessed for patients presenting to emergency departments or treated in hospitals. An unknown rate of attempted suicides remained undetected. This may have caused an overestimation of the lethality of certain methods. Moreover, the detection of attempted suicides and the registration of completed suicides might have differed across the four countries. Some suicides might be hidden and misclassified as undetermined deaths.ConclusionsMen more often used highly lethal methods in suicidal behaviour, but there was also a higher method-specific lethality which together explained the large gender differences in the lethality of suicidal acts. Gender differences in the lethality of suicidal acts were fairly consistent across all four European countries examined. Males and females did not differ in age at time of suicidal behaviour. Suicide attempts by males were rated as being more serious independent of the method used, with the exceptions of attempted hanging, suggesting gender differences in intentionality associated with suicidal behaviour. These findings contribute to understanding of the spectrum of reasons for gender differences in the lethality of suicidal behaviour and should inform the development of gender specific strategies for suicide prevention.
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Number of suicides and suicide rates, by sex and age, in England and Wales. Information on conclusion type is provided, along with the proportion of suicides by method and the median registration delay.
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This dataset shows the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) rate for suicide per 100,000 for Regular Force males. As the number of events was less than 20 in most years, rates were not calculated annually as these would not have been statistically reliable. Regular Force female rates were not calculated because female suicides were uncommon. This dataset is taken from the yearly Report on Suicide Mortality in the Canadian Armed Forces released on the Canada.ca platform at the homepage link provided down below.
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This dataset contains data about obesity, suicides and unemployment segregated by Country. The sources of data are wikipedia tables as updated on 11/04/2022. More information can be found in project's github: https://github.com/martinsanc/wikipedia_scraper
Países (List of countries by population (United Nations) - Wikipedia)
Country
UN continental region
UN statistical subregion
Population 1 July 2018
Population 1 July 2019
Change
Desempleo (List of countries by unemployment rate - Wikipedia)
Unemployment Rate
Sourcedate of information
Suicidios (List of countries by suicide rate - Wikipedia)
All
Male
Female
Tasa de obesidad por país (List of countries by suicide rate - Wikipedia)
Rank
Obesity rate
ODC Public Domain Dedication and Licence (PDDL) v1.0http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/pddl/1.0/
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This group of datasets describe the suicides in Scotland for the period 1982-2009. There are 4 separate datasets: All Suicides/Male Suicides/Female Suicides/All Suicide Rate (expressed per 100,000 people). The data is broken down into Local Authority Areas making it easier to investigate any spatial disparity in the suicide figures. A couple of points are worth noting are that it is unclear if the suicide data shows all suicides or just those of Adults. A recent Scottish Government report(http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/03/01145422/20) used deaths of people over 15 years old. Differences in the rates between this data and the results presented in the Scottish Government report may also be due to different population datasets being used. Suicide data sources form the Scottish Public Health Observatory (http://www.scotpho.org.uk/home/Healthwell-beinganddisease/suicide/suicide_data/suicide_la.asp) and the population data used to calculate the rates was sourced from ShareGeo Open (http://hdl.handle.net/10672/95) which uses mid-year estimates downloaded from Nomis (www.nomisweb.co.uk/. Datasets were joined to Local Authority (district, unitary authority and borough) boundaries downloaded from Ordnance Survey OpenData Boundary Line dataset. All spatial analysis was carried out in ArcGIS. GIS vector data. This dataset was first accessioned in the EDINA ShareGeo Open repository on 2011-01-13 and migrated to Edinburgh DataShare on 2017-02-21.
Open Government Licence - Canada 2.0https://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada
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The differences between males and females in life expectancy at birth are decomposed by selected causes of death. Changes in mortality rates for a given cause of death change over time and contribute to the overall change in life expectancy.
In 2022, the rate of suicides among males was 16.4 per 100,000 population and among females it was 5.4 per 100,000. The rate of suicide has slightly decreased for both genders since the beginning of given time period of the statistic, although recent years has seen an increase again for both men and women. However, the rate of suicide for men has remained significantly higher than for women. Individuals seeking help for mental health issuesIn Great Britain, almost 70 percent have never visited a mental health professional, while eighteen percent consult with one at least once a year. Additionally, almost 60 percent of those with a psychiatric condition do not take any medication to control their condition. Mental health of young peopleThe COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact of the mental health of many people, particularly young people. The share of all adults reporting to having experienced symptoms of depression doubled during the pandemic compared to before. Although for those in the age group 16 to 39 years, depression prevalence tripled. Among young people that had mental health concerns prior to the pandemic, a significant majority of those surveyed reported that their life had become worse due to the impact of the pandemic and subsequent restrictions.
This table contains 126720 series, with data for years 2000 - 2000 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Age group (12 items: Total; 15 years and over;20 to 34 years;20 to 24 years;15 to 19 years ...), Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Females; Males ...), Suicidal thoughts and attempts (5 items: Total; suicidal thoughts and attempts; Suicide; considered in past 12 months; Suicide; attempted in past 12 months; Suicide; never contemplated ...), Characteristics (8 items: Number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval; number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons; High 95% confidence interval; number of persons ...).
This dataset contains counts of deaths for California as a whole based on information entered on death certificates. Final counts are derived from static data and include out-of-state deaths to California residents, whereas provisional counts are derived from incomplete and dynamic data. Provisional counts are based on the records available when the data was retrieved and may not represent all deaths that occurred during the time period. Deaths involving injuries from external or environmental forces, such as accidents, homicide and suicide, often require additional investigation that tends to delay certification of the cause and manner of death. This can result in significant under-reporting of these deaths in provisional data.
The final data tables include both deaths that occurred in California regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence) and deaths to California residents (by residence), whereas the provisional data table only includes deaths that occurred in California regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence). The data are reported as totals, as well as stratified by age, gender, race-ethnicity, and death place type. Deaths due to all causes (ALL) and selected underlying cause of death categories are provided. See temporal coverage for more information on which combinations are available for which years.
The cause of death categories are based solely on the underlying cause of death as coded by the International Classification of Diseases. The underlying cause of death is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "the disease or injury which initiated the train of events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury." It is a single value assigned to each death based on the details as entered on the death certificate. When more than one cause is listed, the order in which they are listed can affect which cause is coded as the underlying cause. This means that similar events could be coded with different underlying causes of death depending on variations in how they were entered. Consequently, while underlying cause of death provides a convenient comparison between cause of death categories, it may not capture the full impact of each cause of death as it does not always take into account all conditions contributing to the death.
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Please see FAQ for latest information on COVID-19 Data Hub data flows: https://covid-19.geohive.ie/pages/helpfaqs.Notice:See the Technical Data Issues section in the FAQ for information about issues in data: https://covid-19.geohive.ie/pages/helpfaqs.Deaths: From 16th May 2022 onwards, reporting of Notified Deaths will be weekly (each Wednesday) with deaths notified since the previous Wednesday reported. This is based on the date on which a death was notified on CIDR, not the date on which the death occurred. Data on deaths by date of death is available on the new HPSC Epidemiology of COVID-19 Data Hub https://epi-covid-19-hpscireland.hub.arcgis.com/.Notice:
Please be advised that on 29th April 2021, the 'Aged65up' and 'HospitalisedAged65up' fields were removed from this table. The three fields 'Aged65to74', 'Aged75to84', and 'Aged85up' replace the 'Aged65up' field.The three fields 'HospitalisedAged65to74', 'HospitalisedAged75to84' and 'HospitalisedAged85up' replace the 'HospitalisedAged65up' field.Please be advised that on the week beginning 1st March 2021, the values in the following fields in this table were set to zero: 'CommunityTransmission' , 'CloseContact', 'TravelAbroad' and ‘ClustersNotified’. ----------------------------------------------------------------------This feature service contains the up to date Covid-19 Daily Statistics as well as the Profile of Covid-19 Daily Statistics for Ireland, as reported by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.The Covid-19 Daily Statistics are updated once a week, each Wednesday, which includes data for the full time series. Data on deaths is updated once a week, each Wednesday, which includes data for the full time series.The further breakdown of these counts (age, gender, transmission, etc.) is part of a Daily Statistics Profile of Covid-19, to help identify patterns and trends.The primary Date applies to the following fields:ConfirmedCovidCases, TotalConfirmedCovidCases, ConfirmedCovidDeaths, TotalCovidDeaths, ConfirmedCovidRecovered,SevenDayAverageCases.The StatisticProfileDate applies to the following fields:CovidCasesConfirmed, HospitalisedCovidCases, RequiringICUCovidCases, HealthcareWorkersCovidCases,Clusters Notified,HospitalisedAged5,HospitalisedAged5to14,HospitalisedAged15to24,HospitalisedAged25to34,HospitalisedAged35to44,HospitalisedAged45to54,HospitalisedAged55to64,HospitalisedAged65to74,HospitalisedAged75to84,HospitalisedAged85up,Male, Female, Unknown,Aged1to4, Aged5to14, Aged15to24, Aged25to34, Aged35to44, Aged45to54, Aged55to64, Aged65to74,Aged75to84,Aged85up,MedianAgeCommunityTransmission, CloseContact, TravelAbroad, Total Deaths by Date of Death,Deaths by Date of Death.
Number of deaths and mortality rates, by age group, sex, and place of residence, 1991 to most recent year.
Rank, number of deaths, percentage of deaths, and age-specific mortality rates for the leading causes of death, by age group and sex, 2000 to most recent year.
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Suicide mortality rate is the number of suicide deaths in a year per 100,000 population. Crude suicide rate (not age-adjusted).
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This dataset presents life expectancy at birth estimates for males, females and persons. This dataset covers the reference period 2010-12 to 2017-19, and is based on Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSA), according to the 2016 edition of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS).
For further information please visit the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Internationally, life tables are used to measure mortality. In its simplest form, a life table is generated from age-specific death rates and the resulting values are used to measure mortality, survivorship and life expectancy. The life table depicts the mortality experience of a hypothetical group of newborn babies throughout their entire lifetime. It is based on the assumption that this group is subject to the age-specific mortality rates of the reference period. Typically this hypothetical group is 100,000 persons in size.
AURIN has spatially enabled the original data.
Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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This dataset presents life expectancy at birth estimates for males, females and persons. This dataset covers the reference period 2010-12 to 2017-19, and is based on Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4), according to the 2016 edition of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS).
For further information please visit the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Internationally, life tables are used to measure mortality. In its simplest form, a life table is generated from age-specific death rates and the resulting values are used to measure mortality, survivorship and life expectancy. The life table depicts the mortality experience of a hypothetical group of newborn babies throughout their entire lifetime. It is based on the assumption that this group is subject to the age-specific mortality rates of the reference period. Typically this hypothetical group is 100,000 persons in size.
AURIN has spatially enabled the original data.
Over 170 thousand deaths due to suicides were recorded in India in 2022. Furthermore, majority of suicides were reported in the state of Tamil Nadu, followed by Rajasthan. The number of suicides that year had increased from the previous year. Some of the causes for suicides in the country were due to professional problems, abuse, violence, family problems, financial loss, sense of isolation and mental disorders.
Depressive disorders and suicide
As of 2015, over 322.48 million people worldwide suffered from some kind of depressive disorder. Furthermore, over 14 percent of the total population in India suffer from different forms of mental disorders as of 2017. There exists a positive correlation between the number of suicide mortality rates and people with select mental disorders as opposed to those without.
Risk factors for mental disorders
Every seventh person in India suffers from some form of mental disorder. Today, depressive disorders are regarded as the leading contributor not only to disease burden and morbidity worldwide, but even suicide if not addressed. In 2022, the leading cause for suicide deaths in India was due to family problems. The second leading cause was due to illness. Some of the risk factors, relative to developing mental disorders including depressive and anxiety disorders, include bullying victimization, poverty, unemployment, childhood sexual abuse and intimate partner violence.
The differences between males and females in life expectancy at birth are decomposed by selected causes of death. Changes in mortality rates for a given cause of death change over time and contribute to the overall change in life expectancy.
These data contain lifetables derived from the ONS Longitudinal study dataset, and according to age, sex and individual socio-economic status measured with education, occupation or wage in England and Wales in 2011. Life table according to age, sex and individual’s education, or occupation or wage for the England & Wales population in 2011 The data contained in these files are aggregated data from the ONS Longitudinal Study (ONS LS). The ONS LS is a long-term census-based multi-cohort study. It uses four annual birthdates as random selection criteria, giving a 1% sample of the England and Wales population (10.1093/ije/dyy243). The initial sample was drawn from the 1971 Census, and study members’ census records have been linked every 10 years up to the 2011 Census. New members enter the study through birth or immigration, and existing members leave through death or emigration. Vital life events information (births, deaths and cancer registrations) are also linked to sample members’ records. File lifetab_2011_educ.csv Life table according to age, sex and education level for the England & Wales population in 2011 age x: attained age (years) from 20 to 100 sex: 2 categories: male (m) and female (f) educ: 6 categories of highest educational attainment: A: no qualifications; B: 1-4 GCSEs/O levels; C: 5+ GCSEs/O levels, D: Apprenticeships/Vocational qualifications, E: A/AS levels, F: Degree/Higher Degree mx: mortality rate for 1 person-year qx: annual probability of death ( = 1 - exp(-mx) ) ex: life-expectancy (years) File lifetab_2011_inc.csv Life table from age 20 onwards and according to age, sex and income level for the England & Wales population in 2011 age x: attained age (years) from 20 to 100 sex: 2 categories: male (m); female (f) inc: 5 categories of income: Least deprived; 4; 3; 2; Most deprived mx: mortality rate for 1 person-year qx: annual probability of death ( = 1 - exp(-mx) ) ex: life-expectancy (years) File lifetab_2011_occ.csv Life table from age 20 onwards and according to age, sex and occupation for the England & Wales population in 2011 age x: attained age (years) from 20 to 100 sex: 2 categories: male (m); female (f) occ: 3 categories of occupation: C: Technical/Routine; B: Intermediate; A: Managerial/Administrative/Professional mx: mortality rate for 1 person-year qx: annual probability of death ( = 1 - exp(-mx) ) ex: life-expectancy (years) File lifetab_2011_overall.csv Life table from age 20 onwards and according to age and sex for the England & Wales population in 2011 age x: attained age (years) from 20 to 100 sex: 2 categories: male (m); female (f) mx: mortality rate for 1 person-year qx: annual probability of death ( = 1 - exp(-mx) ) ex: life-expectancy (years) More details can be found in the following paper: Ingleby F, Woods L, Atherton I, Baker M, Elliss-Brookes L, Belot A. (2021). Describing socio-economic variation in life expectancy according to an individual's education, occupation and wage in England and Wales: An analysis of the ONS Longitudinal Study. SSM - Population Health, doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100815
In the UK, people who reside within more income-deprived areas live a shorter period of time after a diagnosis of cancer compared to people living in less income-deprived areas. At least part of these inequalities in cancer survival are due to inequalities in cancer care, even considering differential patient and tumour factors such as stage at diagnosis. The specific mechanisms by which area-based deprivation levels lead to poorer individual health outcomes within the context of a universal healthcare system, free at the point of use, are not well understood. These analyses will enable, for the first time, the examination of how an individual patient's socio-economic status is associated with poorer cancer survival in England, and will demonstrate how these associations might be modified by the level of deprivation in the small area within which the patient resides. Our aim is to perform an in-depth study of the association between the individual patient's deprivation and cancer survival, considering in particular how this is influenced by their socio-economic context, whether it varies over time since diagnosis and whether it has changed over calendar time. We will focus on three indicators of deprivation: income, education and occupation. We will first examine the correlation between individual and area deprivation, by each of these indicators, and then secondly describe the association between individual deprivation and survival. Third, we will assess whether the association between individual deprivation and patients' survival is modified by area deprivation; that is, whether equally deprived individuals in different areas fare better, or worse, according to the socio-economic context of the area within which they live. Finally we will gain the insights of patients, carers, and healthcare professionals on these data, and communicate these to cancer policy...
Open Government Licence - Canada 2.0https://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada
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This table contains 52020 series, with data for years 1996 - 1996 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (170 items: Canada; Newfoundland and Labrador; Health and Community Services St. John's Region; Newfoundland and Labrador; Health and Community Services Eastern Region; Newfoundland and Labrador ...), Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Males; Females ...), Selected causes of death (ICD-9) (17 items: Total; all causes of death; All malignant neoplasms (cancers);Lung cancer; Colorectal cancer ...), Characteristics (6 items: Number of deaths; Low 95% confidence interval; number of deaths; Mortality; High 95% confidence interval; number of deaths ...).
2020 - 2022, county-level U.S. stroke death rates. Dataset developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention.Create maps of U.S. stroke death rates by county. Data can be stratified by age, race/ethnicity, and sex.Visit the CDC Atlas of Heart Disease and Stroke for additional data and maps. Atlas of Heart Disease and StrokeData SourceMortality data were obtained from the National Vital Statistics System. Bridged-Race Postcensal Population Estimates were obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics. International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) codes: I60-I69; underlying cause of death.Data DictionaryData for counties with small populations are not displayed when a reliable rate could not be generated. These counties are represented in the data with values of '-1.' CDC excludes these values when classifying the data on a map, indicating those counties as 'Insufficient Data.'Data field names and descriptionsstcty_fips: state FIPS code + county FIPS codeOther fields use the following format: RRR_S_aaaa (e.g., API_M_35UP) RRR: 3 digits represent race/ethnicity All - Overall AIA - American Indian and Alaska Native, non-Hispanic ASN - Asian, non-Hispanic BLK - Black, non-Hispanic HIS - Hispanic NHP – Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic MOR – More than one race, non-Hispanic WHT - White, non-Hispanic S: 1 digit represents sex A - All F - Female M - Male aaaa: 4 digits represent age. The first 2 digits are the lower bound for age and the last 2 digits are the upper bound for age. 'UP' indicates the data includes the maximum age available and 'LT' indicates ages less than the upper bound. Example: The column 'BLK_M_65UP' displays rates per 100,000 black men aged 65 years and older.MethodologyRates are calculated using a 3-year average and are age-standardized in 10-year age groups using the 2000 U.S. Standard Population. Rates are calculated and displayed per 100,000 population. Rates were spatially smoothed using a Local Empirical Bayes algorithm to stabilize risk by borrowing information from neighboring geographic areas, making estimates more statistically robust and stable for counties with small populations. Data for counties with small populations are coded as '-1' when a reliable rate could not be generated. County-level rates were generated when the following criteria were met over a 3-year time period within each of the filters (e.g., age, race, and sex).At least one of the following 3 criteria:At least 20 events occurred within the county and its adjacent neighbors.ORAt least 16 events occurred within the county.ORAt least 5,000 population years within the county.AND all 3 of the following criteria:At least 6 population years for each age group used for age adjustment if that age group had 1 or more event.The number of population years in an age group was greater than the number of events.At least 100 population years within the county.More Questions?Interactive Atlas of Heart Disease and StrokeData SourcesStatistical Methods
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BackgroundIn Europe, men have lower rates of attempted suicide compared to women and at the same time a higher rate of completed suicides, indicating major gender differences in lethality of suicidal behaviour. The aim of this study was to analyse the extent to which these gender differences in lethality can be explained by factors such as choice of more lethal methods or lethality differences within the same suicide method or age. In addition, we explored gender differences in the intentionality of suicide attempts.Methods and FindingsMethods. Design: Epidemiological study using a combination of self-report and official data. Setting: Mental health care services in four European countries: Germany, Hungary, Ireland, and Portugal. Data basis: Completed suicides derived from official statistics for each country (767 acts, 74.4% male) and assessed suicide attempts excluding habitual intentional self-harm (8,175 acts, 43.2% male).Main Outcome Measures and Data Analysis. We collected data on suicidal acts in eight regions of four European countries participating in the EU-funded “OSPI-Europe”-project (www.ospi-europe.com). We calculated method-specific lethality using the number of completed suicides per method * 100 / (number of completed suicides per method + number of attempted suicides per method). We tested gender differences in the distribution of suicidal acts for significance by using the χ2-test for two-by-two tables. We assessed the effect sizes with phi coefficients (φ). We identified predictors of lethality with a binary logistic regression analysis. Poisson regression analysis examined the contribution of choice of methods and method-specific lethality to gender differences in the lethality of suicidal acts.Findings Main ResultsSuicidal acts (fatal and non-fatal) were 3.4 times more lethal in men than in women (lethality 13.91% (regarding 4106 suicidal acts) versus 4.05% (regarding 4836 suicidal acts)), the difference being significant for the methods hanging, jumping, moving objects, sharp objects and poisoning by substances other than drugs. Median age at time of suicidal behaviour (35–44 years) did not differ between males and females. The overall gender difference in lethality of suicidal behaviour was explained by males choosing more lethal suicide methods (odds ratio (OR) = 2.03; 95% CI = 1.65 to 2.50; p < 0.000001) and additionally, but to a lesser degree, by a higher lethality of suicidal acts for males even within the same method (OR = 1.64; 95% CI = 1.32 to 2.02; p = 0.000005). Results of a regression analysis revealed neither age nor country differences were significant predictors for gender differences in the lethality of suicidal acts. The proportion of serious suicide attempts among all non-fatal suicidal acts with known intentionality (NFSAi) was significantly higher in men (57.1%; 1,207 of 2,115 NFSAi) than in women (48.6%; 1,508 of 3,100 NFSAi) (χ2 = 35.74; p < 0.000001).Main limitations of the studyDue to restrictive data security regulations to ensure anonymity in Ireland, specific ages could not be provided because of the relatively low absolute numbers of suicide in the Irish intervention and control region. Therefore, analyses of the interaction between gender and age could only be conducted for three of the four countries. Attempted suicides were assessed for patients presenting to emergency departments or treated in hospitals. An unknown rate of attempted suicides remained undetected. This may have caused an overestimation of the lethality of certain methods. Moreover, the detection of attempted suicides and the registration of completed suicides might have differed across the four countries. Some suicides might be hidden and misclassified as undetermined deaths.ConclusionsMen more often used highly lethal methods in suicidal behaviour, but there was also a higher method-specific lethality which together explained the large gender differences in the lethality of suicidal acts. Gender differences in the lethality of suicidal acts were fairly consistent across all four European countries examined. Males and females did not differ in age at time of suicidal behaviour. Suicide attempts by males were rated as being more serious independent of the method used, with the exceptions of attempted hanging, suggesting gender differences in intentionality associated with suicidal behaviour. These findings contribute to understanding of the spectrum of reasons for gender differences in the lethality of suicidal behaviour and should inform the development of gender specific strategies for suicide prevention.