title: Suicide rates in the national and expatriate population in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Reports on suicide from the Gulf region are scarce. Dubai is a city with a large expatriate population. However, total and gender-specific suicide rates for the national and expatriate populations are not known.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate total and gender-specific suicide rates in the national and expatriate population in Dubai and to elicit socio-demographic characteristics of suicide victims.
  
  
  METHODS
  Registered suicides in Dubai from 2003 to 2009, and aggregated socio-demographic data of suicide victims were analysed. Suicide rates per 100,000 population were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Suicide rate among expatriates (6.3/100,000) was seven times higher than the rate among the nationals (0.9/100,000). In both groups, male suicide rate was more than three times higher than the female rate. Approximately three out of four expatriate suicides were committed by Indians. The majority of suicide victims were male, older than 30 years, expatriate, single and employed, with an education of secondary school level and below.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further research on risk factors for and protective factors against suicide, particularly among the expatriate population, is needed. Epidemiological monitoring of suicide trends at the national level and improvement of UAE suicide statistics would provide useful information for developing suicide prevention strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, UAE. kanitadervic@uaeu.ac.ae
authors.forename: Kanita
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dervic
authors.forename: Leena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Amiri
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Niederkrotenthaler
authors.forename: Said
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yousef
authors.forename: Mohamed O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Voracek
authors.forename: Gernot
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sonneck
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014479:United Arab Emirates / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult