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A woman holds her head in an undated file photo.U.S. suicide rates appear to be on the rise, driven mostly by middle-aged white women, researchers reported on Tuesday.
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US suicide rates appear to be on the rise, driven mostly by middle-aged white women, researchers reported on Tuesday.
They found a disturbing increase in suicides between 1999 and 2005 and said the pattern had changed in an unmistakable way.
The overall suicide rate rose 0.7 percent during this time, but the rate for white men aged 40 to 64 rose 2.7 percent and for middle-aged women 3.9 percent, the team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found.
"The biggest increase that we have seen between 1999 and 2005 was the increase in poisoning suicide in women -- that went up by 57 percent," said Susan Baker, a professor in injury prevention with a special expertise in suicide.
Writing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Baker, Guoqing Hu and colleagues said they analyzed publicly available death certificate data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The results underscore a change in the epidemiology of suicide, with middle-aged whites emerging as a new high-risk group," Baker said in a statement.
Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States and Baker said the changes are substantial.
"Definitely these are not just little blips," she said in a telephone interview. "We are looking at a big population change."
The middle-aged women and men used various methods to kill themselves -- poisons, prescription drugs, hanging or suffocation, and firearms, Baker said.
While firearms remain the most common method, the rate of gun suicides decreased while suicide by hanging or suffocation increased by 6.3 percent among men, and 2.3 percent among women.
And international research published in January found that the young, single, female, poorly educated and mentally ill are all at higher risk of suicide.
According to the World Health Organization, suicide rates have increased by 60 percent in the last 45 years. Depression is the leading cause of suicide.
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(Agencies)
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研究人員于本周二發(fā)布的一項(xiàng)研究報(bào)告稱，目前美國(guó)的總體自殺率呈上升趨勢(shì)，其中中年白人女性的自殺率增長(zhǎng)尤為顯著。
研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，從1999年至2005年，美國(guó)的自殺率總體上升，不過(guò)增長(zhǎng)“模式”發(fā)生了明顯變化。
巴爾的摩約翰?霍普金斯大學(xué)的研究小組發(fā)現(xiàn)，美國(guó)的總體自殺率在這一期間增長(zhǎng)了0.7%，其中，40歲至64歲白人男性的自殺率上升了2.7%，而中年白人女性的自殺率則上升了3.9%。
從事傷害及自殺預(yù)防研究的蘇珊?貝克教授說(shuō)：“這一階段女性的服毒自殺率增長(zhǎng)最為顯著，達(dá)到57%?！?/font>
貝克教授、胡國(guó)慶教授及其同事們?cè)谘芯繄?bào)告中指出，研究結(jié)果主要基于對(duì)美國(guó)疾病防控中心的死亡證明資料的分析。該研究報(bào)告在《美國(guó)預(yù)防醫(yī)學(xué)期刊》上發(fā)表。
貝克在一份聲明中稱：“研究結(jié)果突出了自殺流行病學(xué)的一個(gè)變化，中年白人女性正在成為一個(gè)新的自殺高危群體?！?/font>
自殺是美國(guó)的第十一大死因。貝克稱，這些變化是實(shí)質(zhì)性的。
她在電話采訪中說(shuō)：“顯然，這些并不是暫時(shí)的小波動(dòng)，而是整個(gè)人口的大變化?！?/font>
她說(shuō)，中年人群的自殺方式有很多種，包括服毒、服藥、上吊或窒息以及槍支。
槍支仍是最常用的自殺手段。不過(guò)近年來(lái)使用槍支自殺的比率有所下降，而上吊或窒息自殺率則有所上升，在男性和女性中的增幅分別為6.3%和2.3%。
今年一月公布的一項(xiàng)國(guó)際研究顯示，年輕人、單身人群、女性、受教育水平較低者以及精神病患者是幾個(gè)主要的自殺高危人群。
據(jù)世界衛(wèi)生組織統(tǒng)計(jì)，全球自殺率在過(guò)去的45年中上升了60%。而抑郁癥是自殺的首要誘因。
（實(shí)習(xí)生瞿漫 英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯）
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