Ramesh Parvathy, Taylor Peter J, McPhillips Rebecca, Raman Rajesh, Robinson Catherine
School of Health Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Department of Psychiatry, JSS Medical College, JSS University, Mysore, India.
Front Psychiatry. 2022 May 20;13:884657. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.884657. eCollection 2022.
Much of the published literature on suicide comes from high income countries. In countries such as India, female suicide rates exceed the global suicide rate and suicide rates found in their male counterparts. Results from previous studies indicate that factors related to suicide among men and women in India are different from those seen in high-income countries. To date, no reviews have considered the relationship between gender and suicide in India. Therefore, the aim of this scoping review is to provide a comprehensive understanding of existing literature reporting gender differences in suicide rates, methods, risk factors and antecedent factors in India by reviewing published studies.
A scoping review was conducted to map the existing literature on gender differences in suicide in India. To identify peer-reviewed publications, online databases PsycINFO and Embase were searched. The search terms were [suicid AND India]. The searches took place in November 2020 and May 2021, with no language restrictions. Articles published from 2014 onwards from India were included. Reference lists of selected studies were searched for studies that could meet the inclusion criteria.
This review identified 17 studies that met the inclusion criteria. The ratio between women and men who die by suicide in India is much lower than in high-income countries. Hanging was found to be a more commonly used method of suicide among both men and women, in comparison to high-income countries where hanging is more common among men. This review also identified several gaps in the literature. There were few studies that examined suicide among transgender Indians. There was limited literature on gender differences in risk and protective factors for suicide. Limitations such as the omission of a lack of gender-based analyses in several studies and under-reporting of suicide rates were identified.
Understanding suicide within the context of individual countries is essential in designing culture-appropriate suicide prevention strategies. This review identified an urgent need to establish and evaluate suicide surveillance systems in India. Furthermore, additional research is warranted to understand suicide among individuals who identify outside the gender binary, and gender-specific risk and protective factors.
关于自杀的已发表文献大多来自高收入国家。在印度等国家，女性自杀率超过全球自杀率以及男性自杀率。先前研究结果表明，印度男性和女性自杀相关因素与高收入国家不同。迄今为止，尚无综述探讨印度性别与自杀之间的关系。因此，本范围综述的目的是通过回顾已发表研究，全面了解印度自杀率、方法、风险因素和先行因素方面性别差异的现有文献。
进行了一项范围综述，以梳理印度自杀性别差异的现有文献。为识别同行评审出版物，检索了在线数据库PsycINFO和Embase。检索词为[自杀 AND 印度]。检索于2020年11月和2021年5月进行，无语言限制。纳入2014年起来自印度的文章。对所选研究的参考文献列表进行检索，以查找符合纳入标准的研究。
本综述确定了17项符合纳入标准的研究。印度自杀死亡的女性与男性之比远低于高收入国家。与高收入国家男性更常采用上吊自杀不同，在印度，上吊是男性和女性更常用的自杀方法。本综述还发现了文献中的几个空白。研究印度跨性别者自杀情况的研究很少。关于自杀风险和保护因素性别差异的文献有限。确定了一些局限性，如若干研究未进行基于性别的分析以及自杀率报告不足。
在各个国家的背景下理解自杀对于设计适合文化的自杀预防策略至关重要。本综述确定了在印度建立和评估自杀监测系统的迫切需求。此外，有必要进行更多研究，以了解非二元性别者的自杀情况以及特定性别的风险和保护因素。
