Department of Social Work and Social Administration and Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
Department of Statistics, The University of New South Wales, Australia.
Soc Sci Med. 2014 Jun;110:26-30. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.03.023. Epub 2014 Mar 26.
An exclusion period (usually from 12 months to 2 years) is usually found in life insurance policies as a precautionary measure to prohibit people from insuring their lives with the intent to kill themselves shortly thereafter. Several studies have been conducted to investigate the effect of exclusion periods on the risk of suicide among the insured in the US and Australia. However, while Hong Kong has experienced an increase in the number of suicides among the insured, little is known about the dynamic between the exclusion period and suicide in Asia. Here we make use of death claims data from one of the major life insurance companies in Hong Kong to ascertain the impact of a 12-month exclusion period on suicide risk. We also use utility functions derived from economic theory to better understand individual choices regarding suicide among the insured. More specifically, we sought to determine whether there is a greater risk of suicide immediately following the 12-month exclusion period. We also examined whether the risk of suicide claims was higher than that of other non-suicidal claims. The study period for this investigation was from January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2011, during which time there were 1935 claims based on 1243 deaths. Of these, 197 were suicide-related claims for 106 suicide deaths. The mean number of life policies held by suicidal claimants and non-suicidal claimants was 1.6 and 1.4, respectively. The average/median size of the claims (total payment made on all policies held by the insured life) was HK$665,800/426,600 and HK$497,700/276,200 for suicidal and non-suicidal deaths, respectively. The policy lifetime of the claims, or the number of days from policy issuance to suicide occurrence, ranged from 38 to 7561 days, with a mean of 2209 days, a median of 1941 days, and a standard deviation of 1544 days. The peak density of suicide claims occurred on day 1039 of the policy. Our results revealed that suicide claims tend to occur earlier than other claims and that there is a greater risk of suicide observed following the 12-month exclusion period. Some suggestions are made in terms of extending the exclusion period, which is anticipated to significantly reduce suicide at the global level.
在寿险中，通常会有一个为期 12 个月至 2 年的除外期，这是一种预防措施，旨在禁止人们在短期内投保自杀。已经有几项研究调查了除外期对美国和澳大利亚被保险人自杀风险的影响。然而，尽管香港的被保险自杀人数有所增加，但亚洲地区除外期与自杀之间的动态关系却鲜为人知。在这里，我们利用香港一家主要寿险公司的理赔数据来确定 12 个月除外期对自杀风险的影响。我们还利用经济学理论中的效用函数来更好地理解被保险人自杀的个人选择。更具体地说，我们试图确定在 12 个月除外期后是否有更高的自杀风险。我们还检查了自杀理赔的风险是否高于其他非自杀理赔。本研究的调查期间为 1997 年 1 月 1 日至 2011 年 12 月 31 日，在此期间，有 1935 项理赔是基于 1243 人死亡，其中 197 项与 106 人自杀死亡有关。自杀理赔的被保险人平均持有寿险保单数量为 1.6 份，非自杀理赔的被保险人平均持有寿险保单数量为 1.4 份。自杀和非自杀死亡的平均/中位数理赔规模（被保险人身故时所有保单的总赔付额）分别为 665800 港元/426600 港元和 497700 港元/276200 港元。理赔的保单期限，即从签发保单到自杀发生的天数，范围从 38 天到 7561 天，平均为 2209 天，中位数为 1941 天，标准差为 1544 天。自杀理赔的峰值密度出现在第 1039 天。我们的研究结果表明，自杀理赔往往比其他理赔更早发生，并且在 12 个月除外期后，自杀风险更高。我们提出了延长除外期的建议，预计这将显著降低全球范围内的自杀率。
