Suicide leading cause of death for India youths - study
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/22/health-india-suicides-idINDEE85L0E820120622?feedType=RSS&feedName=globalCoverage2
By Kate Kelland
LONDON | Fri Jun 22, 2012 6:37pm IST
(Reuters) - Suicide is the second most common cause of death for young
people in India, a country with one of the highest suicide rates in
the world, research published on Friday showed.
The first ever national survey of deaths in India found that some 56
percent of all women who took their own lives in 2010 and 40 percent
of men were aged between 15 and 29.
Almost as many young women in India die from suicide as die from
complications in pregnancy and childbirth, scientists at the London
School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found. In the same age bracket,
the leading cause of death for men is transport accidents.
The study found that suicide claims twice as many young lives in India
as HIV and AIDS.
The most common form of suicide death was poisoning, mainly by
swallowing pesticides. Hanging was the second most common cause for
men and women, and burns accounted for about a sixth of suicides by
women.
Vikram Patel, a professor of international mental health who led the
study, said despite this high death toll, suicide gets far less public
attention in India than maternal deaths or AIDS.
He said he hoped the research would help convince authorities to
improve mental health care in a country where many have no access to
suicide prevention programs or care for mental illnesses such as
depression.
"India is currently in the process of revising the National Mental
Health Program and we hope that the study findings will provide
evidence to improve mental health care in India," he said.
The study, published in The Lancet medical journal, underscored some
differences with trends observed in other parts of the world.
In contrast to patterns usually seen in wealthier countries, the
highest suicide rates in India are among young, wealthy and highly
educated people. Young Indian women also more likely to kill
themselves than men, also a contrast with richer nations where suicide
rates are highest among young men.
1 MILLION SUICIDES A YEAR WORLDWIDE
According to the study, suicide rates are much higher in rural parts
of India, and nearly 10 times as high in the more wealthy southern
states than in the poorer north.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates the annual global
suicide rate is about 16 per 10,000 people, or almost 1 million people
every year. This includes about 200,000 in China, 190,000 in India and
around 140,000 in high-income countries, and represents a 45 percent
increase in the last 45 years.
It says the main risk factors are mental illness - primarily
depression - and alcohol abuse, as well as violence, loss, abuse and
pressures from cultural and social backgrounds.
The study used data from the India's Registrar General and found that
about 3 percent of deaths of people aged over 15 are due to suicide.
Using projections from the United Nations, the researchers estimated
there were around 187,000 suicides in 2010.
Patel said he was intrigued to find many parallels with China when
analysing the Indian data.
"We recorded a reduced risk of suicide in women who were widowed,
divorced or separated, compared with married women and men," he said.
This finding was consistent with trends in China, Patel said, but was
in contrast to higher risks of suicide in formerly married women and
men in the United States.
(Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)
--
Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth. - Mohandas Gandhi
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