Assisted and unassisted suicide in men and women: longitudinal study of the Swiss population.

Steck, Nicole; Egger, Matthias; Zwahlen, Marcel (2016). Assisted and unassisted suicide in men and women: longitudinal study of the Swiss population. British journal of psychiatry, 208(5), pp. 484-490. Royal College of Psychiatrists 10.1192/bjp.bp.114.160416

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BackgroundIn Switzerland assisted suicide is legal if no self-interest is involved.AimsTo compare the strength and direction of associations with sociodemographic factors between assisted and unassisted suicides.MethodWe calculated rates and used Cox and logistic regression models in a longitudinal study of the Swiss population.ResultsAnalyses were based on 5 004 403 people, 1301 assisted and 5708 unassisted suicides from 2003 to 2008. The rate of unassisted suicides was higher in men than in women, rates of assisted suicides were similar in men and women. Higher education was positively associated with assisted suicide, but negatively with unassisted. Living alone, having no children and no religious affiliation were associated with higher rates of both.ConclusionsSome situations that indicate greater vulnerability such as living alone were associated with both assisted and unassisted suicide. Among the terminally ill, women were more likely to choose assisted suicide, whereas men died more often by unassisted suicide.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

UniBE Contributor:

Steck, Nicole, Egger, Matthias, Zwahlen, Marcel

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 360 Social problems & social services

ISSN:

0007-1250

Publisher:

Royal College of Psychiatrists

Language:

English

Submitter:

Doris Kopp Heim

Date Deposited:

12 Jan 2016 14:15

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:51

Publisher DOI:

10.1192/bjp.bp.114.160416

PubMed ID:

26743810

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.74821

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/74821

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