Chung Kuo-Hsuan, Lee Hsin-Chien, Chen Shu-Fen, Lin Herng-Ching
Taipei Medical University Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Taipei, Taiwan.
Can J Public Health. 2008 Sep-Oct;99(5):406-10. doi: 10.1007/BF03405251.
Despite the wealth of studies investigating methods of committing suicide, very few studies have been undertaken in which the focus has been placed on the long-term trend in suicide methods. The aim of this study is therefore to examine the changes in suicide methods in Taiwan.
Our study uses 1995-2004 'cause of death' data, obtained from the Department of Health in Taiwan, to explore the trend in suicide methods among different age and gender groups. The autoregressive integrated moving average model is applied to examine the change in suicide methods among 25,062 suicide deaths during the ten-year study period.
Dramatic rises were identified in the proportions of suicides committed by poisoning by means of gases and vapors (both p < 0.001) in the <34 and 35-64 years age groups between 1995 and 2004, as compared to steady declines in the proportions of suicides committed by hanging, strangulation or suffocation, and poisoning by solid or liquid substances (all p < 0.001). However, for the >64 years age group, the proportions remained steady throughout the study period for all suicide methods, with the one exception of jumping from heights.
Poisoning by gases and vapors is identified as being an increasingly popular method of committing suicide in Taiwan among both genders under the age of 65 years.
尽管有大量研究探讨自杀方法，但很少有研究关注自杀方法的长期趋势。因此，本研究旨在探讨台湾自杀方法的变化。
我们的研究使用了1995 - 2004年台湾卫生署提供的“死因”数据，以探究不同年龄和性别群体中自杀方法的趋势。应用自回归积分滑动平均模型来检验十年研究期间25,062例自杀死亡案例中自杀方法的变化。
与上吊、勒颈或窒息以及固体或液体物质中毒自杀比例的稳步下降（均p < 0.001）相比，1995年至2004年间，34岁以下和35 - 64岁年龄组中通过气体和蒸汽中毒自杀的比例显著上升（均p < 0.001）。然而，对于64岁以上年龄组，除高处跳下外，所有自杀方法的比例在整个研究期间保持稳定。
在台湾，气体和蒸汽中毒被确定为65岁以下男女中越来越流行的自杀方法。
