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Article: The impact of pesticide suicide on the geographic distribution of suicide in Taiwan: A spatial analysis

TitleThe impact of pesticide suicide on the geographic distribution of suicide in Taiwan: A spatial analysis
Authors
KeywordsEcological studies
Mapping
Pesticide
Suicide
Taiwan
Issue Date2012
PublisherBioMed Central Ltd. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpublichealth/
Citation
Bmc Public Health, 2012, v. 12 n. 1 How to Cite?
AbstractBackground: Pesticide self-poisoning is the most commonly used suicide method worldwide, but few studies have investigated the national epidemiology of pesticide suicide in countries where it is a major public health problem. This study aims to investigate geographic variations in pesticide suicide and their impact on the spatial distribution of suicide in Taiwan. Methods. Smoothed standardized mortality ratios for pesticide suicide (2002-2009) were mapped across Taiwan's 358 districts (median population aged 15 or above = 27 000), and their associations with the size of agricultural workforce were investigated using Bayesian hierarchical models. Results: In 2002-2009 pesticide poisoning was the third most common suicide method in Taiwan, accounting for 13.6% (4913/36 110) of all suicides. Rates were higher in agricultural East and Central Taiwan and lower in major cities. Almost half (47%) of all pesticide suicides occurred in areas where only 13% of Taiwan's population lived. The geographic distribution of overall suicides was more similar to that of pesticide suicides than non-pesticide suicides. Rural-urban differences in suicide were mostly due to pesticide suicide. Areas where a higher proportion of people worked in agriculture showed higher pesticide suicide rates (adjusted rate ratio [ARR] per standard deviation increase in the proportion of agricultural workers = 1.58, 95% Credible Interval [CrI] 1.44-1.74) and overall suicide rates (ARR = 1.06, 95% CrI 1.03-1.10) but lower non-pesticide suicide rates (ARR = 0.91, 95% CrI 0.87-0.95). Conclusion: Easy access to pesticides appears to influence the geographic distribution of suicide in Taiwan, highlighting the potential benefits of targeted prevention strategies such as restricting access to highly toxic pesticides. © 2012 Chang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/148853
ISSN
2023 Impact Factor: 3.5
2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 1.253
PubMed Central ID
ISI Accession Number ID
Funding AgencyGrant Number
Hong Kong Research Grants CouncilHKU784210M
National Science Council, TaiwanNSC-98-2917-1-564-162
CSO/SCF
Funding Information:

This study is in part supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council General Research Fund (HKU784210M). S-SC's fellowship at the University of Bristol is funded by the National Science Council, Taiwan (NSC-98-2917-1-564-162). DG is a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator. ME is a Scottish Senior Clinical Research Fellow (funded by the CSO/SCF) and a Lister Prize Fellow. These funding bodies have no role in study design or data analysis. The authors wish to thank Miss Pai Huang Lin for her help with the data compilation.

References

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorChang, SSen_HK
dc.contributor.authorLu, THen_HK
dc.contributor.authorSterne, JAen_HK
dc.contributor.authorEddleston, Men_HK
dc.contributor.authorLin, JJen_HK
dc.contributor.authorGunnell, Den_HK
dc.date.accessioned2012-06-15T03:33:00Z-
dc.date.available2012-06-15T03:33:00Z-
dc.date.issued2012en_HK
dc.identifier.citationBmc Public Health, 2012, v. 12 n. 1en_HK
dc.identifier.issn1471-2458en_HK
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/148853-
dc.description.abstractBackground: Pesticide self-poisoning is the most commonly used suicide method worldwide, but few studies have investigated the national epidemiology of pesticide suicide in countries where it is a major public health problem. This study aims to investigate geographic variations in pesticide suicide and their impact on the spatial distribution of suicide in Taiwan. Methods. Smoothed standardized mortality ratios for pesticide suicide (2002-2009) were mapped across Taiwan's 358 districts (median population aged 15 or above = 27 000), and their associations with the size of agricultural workforce were investigated using Bayesian hierarchical models. Results: In 2002-2009 pesticide poisoning was the third most common suicide method in Taiwan, accounting for 13.6% (4913/36 110) of all suicides. Rates were higher in agricultural East and Central Taiwan and lower in major cities. Almost half (47%) of all pesticide suicides occurred in areas where only 13% of Taiwan's population lived. The geographic distribution of overall suicides was more similar to that of pesticide suicides than non-pesticide suicides. Rural-urban differences in suicide were mostly due to pesticide suicide. Areas where a higher proportion of people worked in agriculture showed higher pesticide suicide rates (adjusted rate ratio [ARR] per standard deviation increase in the proportion of agricultural workers = 1.58, 95% Credible Interval [CrI] 1.44-1.74) and overall suicide rates (ARR = 1.06, 95% CrI 1.03-1.10) but lower non-pesticide suicide rates (ARR = 0.91, 95% CrI 0.87-0.95). Conclusion: Easy access to pesticides appears to influence the geographic distribution of suicide in Taiwan, highlighting the potential benefits of targeted prevention strategies such as restricting access to highly toxic pesticides. © 2012 Chang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.en_HK
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherBioMed Central Ltd. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpublichealth/en_HK
dc.relation.ispartofBMC Public Healthen_HK
dc.rightsBMC Public Health. Copyright © BioMed Central Ltd.-
dc.rightsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.-
dc.subjectEcological studiesen_HK
dc.subjectMappingen_HK
dc.subjectPesticideen_HK
dc.subjectSuicideen_HK
dc.subjectTaiwanen_HK
dc.titleThe impact of pesticide suicide on the geographic distribution of suicide in Taiwan: A spatial analysisen_HK
dc.typeArticleen_HK
dc.identifier.emailChang, SS: sschang@hku.hken_HK
dc.identifier.authorityChang, SS=rp01582en_HK
dc.description.naturepublished_or_final_version-
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/1471-2458-12-260en_HK
dc.identifier.pmid22471759-
dc.identifier.pmcidPMC3351735-
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-84859122938en_HK
dc.identifier.hkuros211096en_HK
dc.relation.referenceshttp://www.scopus.com/mlt/select.url?eid=2-s2.0-84859122938&selection=ref&src=s&origin=recordpageen_HK
dc.identifier.volume12en_HK
dc.identifier.issue1en_HK
dc.identifier.spage260-
dc.identifier.epage260-
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000304015600001-
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdomen_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridChang, SS=35232386600en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridLu, TH=35233954000en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridSterne, JA=7006014653en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridEddleston, M=7005921249en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridLin, JJ=55155528100en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridGunnell, D=55154876100en_HK
dc.identifier.issnl1471-2458-

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