Have urban/rural inequalities in suicide in New Zealand grown during the period 1980-2001?
Previous studies have noted that in many countries there has been a disproportionate increase in suicide in rural areas, contributing to greater urban/rural inequalities in health. This paper evaluates whether this trend was also apparent in New Zealand during the 1980s and 1990s, a period of rapid social and economic change. Using suicide incidence data for the period 1980-2001, we investigate whether urban/rural status had an effect upon rates of suicide independently of socioeconomic deprivation. While both male and female suicide rates were significantly higher in urban than rural areas in 1980-1982, by the end of the 1990s, urban/rural differences in suicide rates were not significant. The narrowing of urban/rural differences was, to some extent, a result of the growth in suicide rates in more isolated rural communities and small rural service centres. Recent geographical variations in suicide in New Zealand are therefore to a large extent similar to trends observed elsewhere, but are less marked. Potential explanations are offered for the fluctuating urban/rural inequalities in suicide including compositional arguments, rural restructuring and economic decline, social isolation and health service utilisation.
Pearce
Jamie
J
GeoHealth Laboratory, Department of Geography, Christchurch, New Zealand. jamie.pearce@canterbury.ac.nz
Barnett
Ross
R
Jones
Irfon
I
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012424:Rural Population; D013405:Suicide / Q000639:trends*; D014505:Urban Population