title: Rates and characteristics of elderly suicide in China, 2013-14.
abstract: The number of older adults (OAs) is growing rapidly and the elderly suicide rate (ESR) is highest among all age-groups in China. Examining the epidemiology of elderly suicide (ES) may facilitate population-specific suicide prevention efforts, however, little is known about the patterns of ES in China.
  
  
  
  To describe the rates and characteristics of ES in China during 2013-14.
  
  
  
  Suicide mortality data by gender, quinquennial age-group, residence (urban/rural) and geographic location (east/central/west) were obtained from China's Integrated National Mortality Surveillance System for 2013-14. Crude ESRs of OAs aged 65 years or above were standardized to the 2010 China's Census population and adjusted for under-reporting.
  
  
  
  While OAs comprised 8.9% of the Chinese population, they represented 38.2% of suicide deaths. The average annual ESR in China was 34.5 per 100000 in 2013-14. ESRs varied widely across OA subgroups, with the highest rates in central rural men (67.1) and women (53.1), and the lowest rate in eastern urban women (13.6). Male gender (incident rate ratio [IRR]=1.47), every five-year increase in age (IRR=1.33), rural residence (IRR=1.83), and geographic location of central China (IRR=1.93) were significantly associated with increased number of ESs.
  
  
  
  Information on means of ES are lacking in the data source.
  
  
  
  ESs disproportionately account for a large portion of China's current total suicides, and ESR, particularly in central rural OAs, is very high in China. Prevention of ES should be given priority as an important public health issue in China. Central rural OAs are key target population for current ES prevention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, PR China; Affiliated Mental Health Center, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, PR China.
authors.forename: Bao-Liang
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, PR China. Electronic address: helenchiu@cuhk.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Helen F K
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Yeates
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Conwell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death / Q000639:trends; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003863:Depression / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012922:Social Change; D013405:Suicide / Q000639:trends*; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data