title: Changes in South Korean urbanicity and suicide rates, 1992 to 2012.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Studies have highlighted the association between the degree of urbanicity and spatial disparities in suicide, but few have evaluated its changes across time. We explored the geospatial trends of suicide in South Korea from 1992 to 2012, and their relationship to the nation's evolving urbanicity.
  
  
  METHODS
  South Korea.
  
  
  METHODS
  Age-sex-specific suicide rate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Suicide rates increased in all regions of South Korea during the study period. Controlling the effects of age and sex, there was an overall inverse relationship between the degree of urbanicity and regional suicide rates. These associations were, however, attenuated across the periods, as there were smaller increases in suicide rates in mid-sized urban regions as compared to larger cities and to rural areas. Increases over time in the suicide rates among youth and working-age adults were greater in large urban centres and in rural regions. For elders, the increase was far greater in rural regions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The association of urbanicity and the geospatial pattern of suicide in South Korea was a dynamic process and varied by age groups across the course of two decades. Internal migration and related social processes most likely contributed to these changes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Chee Hon
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Injury Control Research Center for Suicide Prevention and Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA VA Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Canandaigua, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Eric D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Caine
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Chungbuk National University, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sungeun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Paul Siu Fai
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Yip
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000208:ethnology; D012424:Rural Population; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D014505:Urban Population; D014507:Urbanization
keywords: EPIDEMIOLOGY; MENTAL HEALTH; PUBLIC HEALTH