Time-trends in assisted and unassisted suicides completed with different methods: Swiss National Cohort

• Published in: Swiss medical weekly 2015-06, Vol.145 (2526), p.w14153
• Main Authors: Steck, Nicole, Zwahlen, Marcel, Egger, Matthias
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age Distribution; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; assisted suicide; Female; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Methods of suicide; Middle Aged; poisoning; Rates of suicide; Residence Characteristics; Sex Distribution; Suicide - statistics & numerical data; Suicide - trends; Suicide, Assisted - statistics & numerical data; Suicide, Assisted - trends; Switzerland; Switzerland - epidemiology; unassisted suicide; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1424-7860; 1424-3997
• DOI: 10.4414/smw.2015.14153

The number of suicides assisted by right-to-die associations has increased in recent years in Switzerland. The aim of our study was to compare time trends in rates of assisted and unassisted suicide from 1991-2008. The Swiss National Cohort is a longitudinal study of mortality in the Swiss population; based on linkage of census data with mortality records up to 2008. The Federal Statistical Office coded suspected assisted suicides from 1998 onwards; and from 2003 onwards right-to-die associations reported the suicides they assisted. We used Poisson regression to analyse trends in rates of suicide per 100'000 person-years, by gender and age groups (15-34, 35-64, 65-94 years). A total of 7'940'297 individuals and 24'842 suicides were included. In women, rates changed little in the younger age groups but increased in 65-94-year-olds, due to an increase in suicide by poisoning (from 5.1 to 17.2 per 100'000; p