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New Zealand suicides 1984-8
C S Thomas1, D A Read, G W Mellsop
1Department of Psychological Medicine, Wellington School of Medicine.
Aims:
to determine regional differences in suicide with special attention to inpatients and prisoners.
Methods:
all cases of suicide 1984-8 were identified from coroners' register and age, sex, method of suicide, date of death, place of inquest, occupation and prisoner or inpatient status were recorded.
Results:
between 1984 and 1988 there were 2019 suicides. Subjects were usually male and hanging was the commonest method of achieving death. Northland-Auckland had the highest regional suicide rate and the highest prison suicide rate; and Wellington-Wairarapa had the lowest regional suicide rate, the lowest prison suicide rate but the highest inpatient suicide rate of the five regions studied.
Conclusions:
the high regional and prison rates of suicide in Northland-Auckland were probably because the largest city in New Zealand lies within its boundaries. The high inpatient suicide rate in Wellington-Wairarapa could not be explained by the regional rate, nor by controlling for the number of admissions. This pointed to regional differences in the delivery of psychiatric care.