title: Suicide rate trends in the Slovak Republic in 1993-2015.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Suicide is a significant public health issue worldwide, resulting in loss of lives, and burdening societies.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe and analyze the time trends of suicide rates (SRs) in the Slovak Republic in 1993-2015 for targeted suicide prevention strategies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for this study were obtained from the mortality database of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic. Crude and standardized annual SRs were calculated. Trends and relative risks of suicide according to age and sex were analyzed by joinpoint regression and negative binomial regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, there were 14,575 suicides in the Slovak Republic in the period 1993-2015 (85.3% were men). The overall average age-standardized SR for the study period was 11.45 per 100,000 person years. The rate increases with age, the highest is in men aged 75+ (42.74 per 100,000 person years). Risk of suicide is six times higher in men than in women and nine times higher in men than in women in the age group 25-34. The time trend of SRs is stable or decreasing from 1993 to 2007, but increasing after 2007, corresponding with increased unemployment rate in the country.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The SR in the Slovak Republic is slightly below the average of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations. Highest SR is observed in men of working age and in retirement. Society might benefit from a strategy of education for improving the recognition of suicide risks.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Work, Trnava University, Trnava, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brazinova
authors.affiliation: 2 Institute of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovak Republic.|3 forensic.sk Institute of Forensic Medical Analyses, Bratislava, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Moravansky
authors.affiliation: 4 Unit for Health Promotion Research, University of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gulis
authors.affiliation: 5 Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava and Children Teaching Hospital, Bratislava, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Skodacek
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012044:Regression Analysis; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018154:Slovakia / Q000453:epidemiology; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Slovak Republic; Suicide rates; mortality; time trend