Suicidal behavior in the Ukraine, 1988-1998.
This report studies the available data concerning suicide rates in the Ukraine and points to the importance of appropriate monitoring of suicides and attempted suicides. It illustrates the necessity of collecting this information and of developing "The Ukrainian National Program on Suicide Prevention." Unfortunately, suicide research and publications about suicide rates were prohibited in the former Soviet Union, so some of the data about suicidal behavior in the Ukraine is incomplete. We used the official suicide death statistics of the Ukraine from the Center of Statistics (Ukrainian Ministry of Health) for the period 1988-1998. The overall rate of suicide in the Ukraine is relatively high. Official statistics in the Ukraine show that there were 29.6 suicides per 100,000 population in 1998. The frequency of completed suicide differs in the various regions of the country, suicides being more frequent in the industrially developed regions and in the rural areas of the country than in the cities. In the western part of the Ukraine the frequency of suicide is relatively low (11.1 per 100,000). Between 1988 and 1997 the suicide rate increased by 57%. In 1998 the suicide rate for women was approximately five times lower than that for men.
Kryzhanovskaya
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L
Ukrainian Institute of Social and Forensic Psychiatry. lak8n@virginia.edu
Pilyagina
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G
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012423:Rural Health; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D014455:Ukraine; D000092864:Suicide Prevention