3. Suicide deaths,Australia 1994

(ICD9 E-codes 950-959

Table 3.1 Key indicators of suicide deaths

Indicator	Males	Females	Persons	Suicide deaths continued to be more numerous than transport deaths. Male suicide rates were greater than female rates for all ages. The male rate was more than 4 times the female rate.
Cases	1,830	428	2,258
Percent of all injury deaths	36%	20%	31%
Crude rate/100,000 pop	20.6	4.8	12.7
Age-adjusted rate/100,000 pop	20.7	4.7	12.6
Change in adj. rate since 1993	7%	7%	7%
Average years lost before age 75 yrs	36	26	34

Age and sex distribution

Male rates were highest at ages 20-29, while female rates were highest at ages 35-39. While both male and female rates were high at 80 or more years they only accounted for 3% of all suicide deaths.
Males continued to have higher rates than females in all age groups, with the overall male rate being more than 4 times the female rate and more than 6 times the rate at ages 15-24.
Males aged 20-44 comprised 45% of all suicide deaths in 1994 whereas females in the same age range accounted for just under 10% of all suicide deaths.

There was a slight up-turn in suicide rates for both males and females in 1994.
In Figure 3.2, the lower line for males and for females shows trends in the rates of deaths registered as suicide. Some deaths registered as being of "undetermined intent" (E980-989) may also be suicides. The upper line in each pair includes these deaths as well.
The 17% rise in male suicide rates since 1979 was due, in part, to large increases in suicide by motor vehicle exhaust fumes (up 114%) and suicide by hanging (up 143%). Suicide by firearms, the most common form of suicide for males in 1979 at 2-3 times the rate of other forms of suicide, fell by 35% over the period 1979-1994.
In contrast to male suicide rates, female rates fell by 32% in the period 1979-1994.
Although male suicide rates have increased since 1979, the BHOA target of reducing suicide rates by 15% over 10 years may be achievable. Taking 1992 as the base, male suicide rates have decreased by 2%, while female rates have dropped by 12% since 1992.

Tasmanian suicide rates, which have been markedly higher than the national rate especially since 1992, decreased by 15% in 1994. The 1994 rate was not significantly different than the national rate.
The suicide rate for the ACT, which was significantly lower than the national rate in 1993, rose by 53% in 1994 returning to pre-1993 levels.
Overall, no state or territory was significantly different than the national rate in 1994.

As was observed with road transport deaths, young males aged 15-29 years have particularly high rates. However, while transport death rates declined over the period 1979-1994, suicide death rates for males in this age range increased by 40%. This was in sharp contrast to the female rate which fell by 24% in the same period
Of note was the large rise in suicide by hanging which rose from 41 deaths in 1979 (2.2 per 100,000 population) to 201 deaths in 1994 (9.5 per 100,000), up 331%. The rise in the rate of suicide by hanging for males aged 20-24 years was most pronounced, with an overall rise of 641%.
The rate of suicide by motor vehicle exhaust fumes also increased, up from 2.2 per 100,000 in 1979 to 4.6 per 100,000 in 1994. One notable feature of the hanging and motor vehicle exhaust suicides was the large rise in hanging rates after 1986 compared to motor vehicle exhaust rates. Prior to 1986 both rates were reasonably similar, however, after 1986 the motor vehicle exhaust rate fell by 19% while the rate for hanging increased by 144%.
The increases in the rates of suicide deaths by hanging and motor vehicle exhaust fumes for males aged 15-29 was contrasted by falls in the rates of suicide by firearms which fell by 30% from 9 deaths per 100,000 in 1979 to 6.3 per 100,000 in 1994, and suicide by poisoning which fell by 27% from 3.7 per 100,000 in 1979 to 2.7 per 100,000 in 1994.