Shah Ajit, Bhat Ravi, Mackenzie Sheena, Koen Chris
Centre for Ethnicity and Health, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK.
Int Psychogeriatr. 2008 Apr;20(2):347-60. doi: 10.1017/S1041610207005352. Epub 2007 May 16.
Socioeconomic status may influence cross-national variations in elderly suicide rates.
The relationship between suicide rates in both sexes in the age-bands 65-74 years and 75+ years and (i) life expectancy, (ii) measures of socioeconomic status (per capita gross national domestic product (GDP) and the Gini coeffcient), and (iii) measures of the quality and quantity of available healthcare services (the proportion of GDP spent on health, per capita expenditure on health and child mortality rates) was examined using data from the World Health Organization and the United Nations.
The main findings were: (i) a significant negative correlation between the Gini coefficient and suicide rates for both sexes in both age-bands; (ii) a significant positive correlation between per capita expenditure on health and suicide rates for both sexes in both age-bands; (iii) the significant positive correlation between the proportion of GDP spent on health and suicide rates was only evident in males in both age-bands; (iv) a significant negative correlation between child mortality rates and suicide rates for both sexes in both age-bands; and, (v) the significant positive correlation between life expectancy and suicide rates was evident in females in both age-bands.
A potentially testable model with five sequential stages was proposed to explain these findings.
社会经济地位可能会影响老年人自杀率的跨国差异。
利用世界卫生组织和联合国的数据，研究了65 - 74岁和75岁及以上两个年龄段男女自杀率与（i）预期寿命、（ii）社会经济地位指标（人均国内生产总值（GDP）和基尼系数）以及（iii）可用医疗服务的质量和数量指标（卫生支出占GDP的比例、人均卫生支出和儿童死亡率）之间的关系。
主要发现如下：（i）两个年龄段男女的基尼系数与自杀率之间存在显著负相关；（ii）两个年龄段男女的人均卫生支出与自杀率之间存在显著正相关；（iii）卫生支出占GDP的比例与自杀率之间的显著正相关仅在两个年龄段的男性中明显；（iv）两个年龄段男女的儿童死亡率与自杀率之间存在显著负相关；以及（v）两个年龄段女性的预期寿命与自杀率之间存在显著正相关。
提出了一个具有五个连续阶段的潜在可检验模型来解释这些发现。
