Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
BMC Psychiatry. 2012 Jul 23;12:86. doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-12-86.
Understanding the spatial distribution of suicide can inform the planning, implementation and evaluation of suicide prevention activity. This study explored spatial clusters of suicide in Australia, and investigated likely socio-demographic determinants of these clusters.
National suicide and population data at a statistical local area (SLA) level were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the period of 1999 to 2003. Standardised mortality ratios (SMR) were calculated at the SLA level, and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques were applied to investigate the geographical distribution of suicides and detect clusters of high risk in Australia.
Male suicide incidence was relatively high in the northeast of Australia, and parts of the east coast, central and southeast inland, compared with the national average. Among the total male population and males aged 15 to 34, Mornington Shire had the whole or a part of primary high risk cluster for suicide, followed by the Bathurst-Melville area, one of the secondary clusters in the north coastal area of the Northern Territory. Other secondary clusters changed with the selection of cluster radius and age group. For males aged 35 to 54 years, only one cluster in the east of the country was identified. There was only one significant female suicide cluster near Melbourne while other SLAs had very few female suicide cases and were not identified as clusters. Male suicide clusters had a higher proportion of Indigenous population and lower median socio-economic index for area (SEIFA) than the national average, but their shapes changed with selection of maximum cluster radii setting.
This study found high suicide risk clusters at the SLA level in Australia, which appeared to be associated with lower median socio-economic status and higher proportion of Indigenous population. Future suicide prevention programs should focus on these high risk areas.
了解自杀的空间分布可以为自杀预防活动的规划、实施和评估提供信息。本研究探讨了澳大利亚自杀的空间聚集，并调查了这些聚集的可能社会人口学决定因素。
从澳大利亚统计局获得了 1999 年至 2003 年期间的国家自杀和人口数据，按统计地方行政区（SLA）水平进行了标准化死亡率（SMR）的计算，并应用地理信息系统（GIS）技术调查了澳大利亚自杀的地理分布情况，并发现了高风险地区的聚集。
与全国平均水平相比，澳大利亚东北部和东海岸、内陆中部和东南部的男性自杀发生率相对较高。在全部男性人口和 15 至 34 岁的男性中，莫宁顿郡（Mornington Shire）存在整个或部分的主要高风险自杀聚集区，其次是位于北领地北部沿海地区的巴瑟斯特-梅尔维尔（Bathurst-Melville）地区，是其中一个次要聚集区。随着集群半径和年龄组的选择，其他次要集群也发生了变化。对于 35 至 54 岁的男性，只在该国东部发现了一个集群。在墨尔本附近只有一个女性自杀集群是显著的，而其他 SLA 只有很少的女性自杀案例，未被确定为集群。男性自杀集群的土著人口比例较高，社会经济地位指数中位数（SEIFA）比全国平均水平低，但随着最大集群半径选择的变化，它们的形状也发生了变化。
本研究在澳大利亚发现了 SLA 水平的高自杀风险聚集区，这些聚集区似乎与较低的社会经济地位中位数和较高的土著人口比例有关。未来的自杀预防计划应侧重于这些高风险地区。
