Tobacco and alcohol tax relationships with suicide in Switzerland.
Previous research has shown an empirical link between tobacco and alcohol use and suicide. If tobacco and alcohol use contribute to suicidal behaviors, then policies designed to reduce the tobacco and alcohol consumption may succeed in reducing suicides as well. To test this hypothesis, correlations for suicide rates with alcohol consumption, taxes on alcohol and tobacco in Switzerland were examined using sets of time-series data from Switzerland in 1965-1994. The tax on tobacco correlated significantly negatively with male standardized suicide rate. The tax on alcohol also correlated significantly with male standardized suicide rate in an autoregressive model. On the other hand, significant relationships with female suicide rate were not found. Policies designed to reduce tobacco consumption are consistent with a benefit of reducing suicides, particularly for men in this sample.
Yamasaki
Akiko
A
Department of Health Promotion & Human Behavior, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yoshidakonoe, Sakyo-ku, 606-8501 Kyoto, Japan. aki@pbh.med.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Chinami
Masanobu
M
Suzuki
Masao
M
Kaneko
Yoshihiro
Y
Fujita
Daisuke
D
Shirakawa
Taro
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013557:Switzerland; D013660:Taxes; D000092864:Suicide Prevention