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BACKGROUND: Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Many factors associated with suicidal thoughts or behaviors are known. This study examines the association between 1) smoking status or intensity (pack-years) and 2) risk of suicide mortality in South Korea. METHODS: We analyzed data from 3,966,305 individuals aged ≥20 who underwent health examinations conducted by the South Korean National Health Insurance Service in 2009 and were followed until December 2021. Participants were categorized based on their baseline smoking status and intensity. We performed a Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis with subgroup analysis by age, sex, body mass index, alcohol consumption, regular exercise, and depression. RESULTS: During an 11.1-year follow-up period, 12,326 individuals died by suicide. Compared with never-smokers, increased hazard ratios of suicide mortality were observed in current smokers (1.64, 95 % CI = 1.56-1.72), but not in ex-smokers. The suicide mortality risk of current smokers increased for all types of smoking intensity without a dose-response relationship. The association between smoking and suicide mortality risk was stronger among women, non-drinkers, adults aged <40 years, non-obese patients, and individuals without depression. LIMITATION: Given that the study used retrospective data, the causal relationship remains unclear. CONCLUSION: Current smoking is associated with a significant increased risk of suicide mortality. Smoking cessation is crucial to prevent suicide, especially among young adults, non-obese individuals, non-drinkers, women, and those without depression. Government policies in South Korea should focus on raising awareness about smoking hazards and providing cessation education to reduce the suicide mortality.

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Background: The suicide mortality rate has been increasing in Region of the Americas, despite decreasing in all other World Health Organization (WHO) regions. Means restriction is an effective evidence-based intervention for suicide prevention. The objective of the current study was to estimate the impact of implementing national-level means restriction policies (i.e., firearm and pesticide restrictions) on the suicide mortality rate in the Region of the Americas. Methods: In this ecological modeling study, two counterfactual scenarios were investigated using sex-specific suicide mortality data from the WHO Global Health Estimates database for 2000 to 2019. Forecasted sex-specific age-standardized suicide mortality rates were then estimated for each country for 2020 to 2030. Counterfactual scenario 1 involved modeling the impact of a firearm or pesticide restriction implemented in 2020 for those countries where the respective means accounted for 40% or more of all suicides for at least one sex in 2019, while in counterfactual scenario 2 this threshold was reduced to 20% or more. Findings: It was estimated that if a firearm or pesticide restriction had been implemented in 2020 in those countries where the respective means accounted for 40% or more of all suicides for at least one sex in 2019, by 2030 the male and female suicide mortality rate in the Region of the Americas would be 20.5% (from 14.5 [95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 14.1, 15.0] per 100,000 males to 11.5 [95% CI: 11.1, 12.0] per 100,000 males) and 11.1% (from 4.5 [95% CI: 4.4, 4.7] per 100,000 females to 4.0 [95% CI: 3.9, 4.2] per 100,000 females) lower than the rate if no such restrictions were implemented, respectively. When the threshold was reduced to 20% or more, minimal additional gains in terms of number of suicides avoided and suicide mortality rate reduction would be achieved. Interpretation: The implementation of a firearm or pesticide restriction policy in countries where the respective means account for a large proportion of suicides (e.g., at least 40%) could aid the Region of the Americas in achieving the WHO target of a one third reduction in the suicide mortality rate by 2030. Funding: This work received no funding.

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OBJECTIVES: Schizophrenia is associated with an increased risk of suicide. Few studies have investigated the risk of suicide across different ages, likely due to limitations around sample size. METHODS: From the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan, this study identified 195,787 patients with schizophrenia from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2019. During the study period, 3848 patients died from suicide. We calculated the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for suicide stratified by age. In this age-stratified, nested case-control study, risk set sampling was used to match each case with 4 living controls by age, sex, and the year of the first diagnosis with schizophrenia. Conditional logistic regression was used for estimating age-stratified risk profiles. RESULTS: The SMR was the highest in the <25 years age group (52.8) and inversely correlated with age. Unemployment was associated with an increased risk of suicide in the 25 to 34, 35 to 44, 45 to 54, and 55 to 64 years age groups. Depressive and sleep disorders before suicide were more common among suicide cases with schizophrenia than among controls across all age groups. Drug-induced and alcohol-induced mental disorders were significantly associated with suicide but were observed only in the age group younger than 54. Heart disease, pneumonia, and moderate or severe renal disease were risk factors for suicide in the age groups less than 65. CONCLUSIONS: The risk factors for suicide differ by age. This study's findings can be used to optimize health-care interventions for preventing suicide in patients with schizophrenia.

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BACKGROUND: The role of psychiatric comorbidity as a confounder between asthma and subsequent suicide mortality in adolescents remained unclarified. METHODS: This study used a 20-year community-based cohort in Taiwan. Adolescents aged 11 to 16 from 123 schools were classified into three subgroups: current asthma (symptoms present in the past year), previous asthma (history of asthma but no symptoms in the past year), and no asthma. The mortality and medical care utilizations until the end of follow-up in 2015 were obtained. Cox proportional hazard and competing risk models were performed. Different adjustment models that included covariates of demographic status, allergy, cigarette smoking, psychiatric diagnoses, alcohol or substance misuse, and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders were compared. RESULTS: During the follow-up, 285 out of 153,526 participants died from suicide. The crude hazard ratio for suicide was 1.95 (95 % CI=1.46∼2.60) in the current asthma subgroup and 2.01 (1.36∼2.97) in the previous asthma subgroup. The adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) attenuated to 1.67 (1.25∼2.24) and 1.72 (1.16∼2.54) respectively after further adjustment for all mental disorders, ADHD, substance, and alcohol use disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Our adjustment analyses stratified by different models highlight evidence of asthma as an independent risk factor that predicts suicide among adolescents. Depression and mental disorders were potential confounders and identifications of asthma and psychiatric disorders might help decrease suicide risk.

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Pulmonary edema is a rare mechanism of death that develops after partial hanging, a potential complication that physicians should consider early in the management of these patients. This case series discusses the presentation, evaluation, and treatment course of three patients who had attempted suicide by hanging and were admitted to the hospital. These patients were admitted to the intensive care unit after being stabilized and supportive treatment was provided. In all the cases, a radiological scan of the chest revealed diffuse infiltrates consistent with pulmonary edema on both sides, features of which were also noted during a diagnostic bronchoscopy. After providing the best intensive care in the hospital, two patients clinically improved, and one patient succumbed to cardiac arrest. As most patients will be brought dead to the hospital following hanging, negative pressure pulmonary edema remains underdiagnosed. Thus, this case series enumerates the possible etiologies of negative pressure pulmonary edema and its contribution to death following suicidal hanging.

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BACKGROUND: Polypharmacy for treatment of depression has been increasing in Taiwan. METHODS: Individuals having depressive disorders were identified in a national database for healthcare services and followed up for 5 years. The mean dosage of antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and sedative-hypnotics was calculated; the associations between the exposure dosage to different psychotropic medications and patients' overall death and death due to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and suicide were examined. RESULTS: A total of 400,042 individuals with depressive disorders (63.8% women) were identified. Compared with those with no exposure to antidepressants, patients prescribed antidepressants had decreased mortality. Use of antipsychotics had a dose-related increase in overall mortality risk compared to no exposure group. Contrarily, depressed patients taking sedative-hypnotics had decreased overall and CVD mortality compared to no exposure group, with the most prominent decrease in CVD mortality of up to 54.9% for those in the moderate exposure group (hazard ratio: 0.451, 95% confidence interval: 0.405-0.503). A moderate or high dose of antidepressants or sedative-hypnotics was shown to be associated with a significantly increased mortality for suicide compared to those with no exposure. CONCLUSIONS: Antidepressant and sedative-hypnotic use was associated with decreased all-cause and CVD-related mortality and use of antipsychotics was associated with a dose-related increase in mortality risk. Future studies are needed to further clarify the involved mechanisms and benefits and risks should be carefully weighed when prescribing psychotropic medications in patients with depressive disorders.

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BACKGROUND: Violent deaths, including suicides and homicides, pose a significant public health challenge in the United States. Understanding the trends and identifying associated risk factors is crucial for targeted intervention strategies. AIM: To examine the trends in suicides and homicides over the past two decades and identify demographic and contextual predictors using the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System online database. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of mortality records from 2000 to 2020 was conducted, utilizing multivariate regression analyses. Covariates included age, race, sex, education, mental health conditions, and time period. Age-adjusted rates were employed to assess trends. RESULTS: Over the 20 years, there was an upward trajectory in suicide rates, increasing from approximately 10/100,000 to over 14/100,000 individuals, which is a notable increase among American Indians (100.8% increase) and individuals aged 25 years and younger (45.3% increase). Homicide rates, while relatively stable, exhibited a significant increase in 2019-2020, with African Americans consistently having the highest rates and a significant increase among American Indians (73.2% increase). In the multivariate regression analysis, Individuals with advanced education (OR= 1.74, 95% CI= 1.70 - 1.78), depression (OR = 13.47, 95% CI = 13.04 - 13.91), and bipolar disorder (OR = 2.65, 95% CI = 2.44 - 2.88) had higher odds of suicide. Risk factors for homicide include African Americans (OR = 4.15, 95% CI = 4.08 - 4.23), Latinx (OR = 2.31, 95% CI = 2.26 - 2.37), people aged 25 years and younger, and those with lower educational attainment. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the changing demographic pattern in suicides and homicides in the United States and the need for targeted public health responses. Means restriction, universal suicide screening, addressing mental health stigma, and implementing broad interventions that modify societal attitudes toward suicide and homicides are essential components of a comprehensive strategy.

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Objectives: Suicide risk is elevated in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. Limited data on LGBT status in healthcare systems hinder our understanding of this risk. This study used natural language processing to extract LGBT status and a deep neural network (DNN) to examine suicidal death risk factors among US Veterans. Methods: Data on 8.8 million veterans with visits between 2010 and 2017 was used. A case-control study was performed, and suicide death risk was analyzed by a DNN. Feature impacts and interactions on the outcome were evaluated. Results: The crude suicide mortality rate was higher in LGBT patients. However, after adjusting for over 200 risk and protective factors, known LGBT status was associated with reduced risk compared to LGBT-Unknown status. Among LGBT patients, black, female, married, and older Veterans have a higher risk, while Veterans of various religions have a lower risk. Conclusion: Our results suggest that disclosed LGBT status is not directly associated with an increase suicide death risk, however, other factors (e.g., depression and anxiety caused by stigma) are associated with suicide death risks.

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In Japan, suicide mortalities consistently decreased before the COVID-19 pandemic (from 2009 to 2019) but, conversely, increased after the pandemic outbreak from 2020 to 2022. To provide up-to-date suicide statistics in Japan, this study determined the temporal fluctuations of standardized suicide mortalities (SMRs), disaggregated by sex and age, by joinpoint regression analysis using the government suicide database, named the "Basic Data on Suicide in Region". From January 2009 to December 2023, three temporal fluctuation patterns of SMRs pertaining to working age and older adults were detected, such as attenuations of decreasing trends before the COVID-19 pandemic (from around the mid-2010s), a sharply increasing trend that coincided with the pandemic outbreak, and gradually decreased during the pandemic, but no changes at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the SMRs of working-age females sharply increased concurrently with the pandemic outbreak, whereas those of males did not change. However, before the pandemic, decreasing trends of the SMRs of working-age males diminished in the mid-2010s, but those of females consistently decreased. The SMRs of working-age males indicated non-significant but sharply increasing trends in early 2022, a trend that was not observed for females. In contrast to working-age adults, the SMRs of adolescents already began to increase in the mid-2010s and also indicated consistently increasing trends between the periods during and after the pandemic. These results suggest, contrary to our expectations, that the impacts of both the outbreak and end of the COVID-19 pandemic were limited regarding the increase in SMRs from 2020. Therefore, when revising suicide prevention programs in the post-COVID-19 era, it should be noted that focusing on pandemic-associated factors alone is not sufficient.

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Mental and behavioral disorders are an important public health problem and constitute a priority for the WHO, whose recommendations include the surveillance of their risk factors. On the other hand, drought episodes have been increasing in frequency and severity in Europe since 1980. Therefore, to review the present knowledge about the impact of drought on mental and behavioral disorders, in the present climate change context, and to underline potential research gaps, could be of major interest. Thus, we performed a narrative review using online academic databases with the aim of identifying relevant literature about the impact of drought on mental and behavioral disorders. To the best of our knowledge, no study in Europe quantifies the potential association between drought and mental disorders. A limited number of studies have found significant associations between droughts (with different temporal ranges) and various measures of mental health. However, according to our review, only three of them quantified the association between drought and objective mental health outcomes, such as number of emergencies due to clinically diagnosed mental disorders or suicides. Additionally, few studies used specific indices as a measure of drought; and finally, as far as authors are aware, none of them has analyzed this relationship adjusting for various other potential environmental confounders. Moreover, the eventual association could vary between different geographical areas within the same country. Therefore, national and regional studies would be especially necessary. Thus, there is a need for specific national and regional studies, in Europe and globally, that assess the impact of specific indices of drought (with different temporal ranges) on objective mental health outcomes controlling for potential environmental confounders. Moreover, the quantification of its cost would be necessary for health prioritization, evidence-based policies and strategic health planning.

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BACKGROUND: Suicide in cancer survivors is a major public health concern, but its trends and risk factors are not well understood. This study aimed to investigate the standardized mortality rate (SMR) and trends in suicide among cancer survivors in the United States. METHODS: Using data from the SEER-9 database and US Mortality data, we identified 3,684,040 cancer survivors diagnosed between 1975 and 2020. The SMR of suicide among cancer survivors was calculated, and Poisson regression analysis was used to evaluate trends in suicide risk. Subgroup analyses were performed based on age, gender, race, tumor site, and stage. A competing risk model was used to calculate the 10-year cumulative incidence of suicide. RESULTS: Among cancer survivors, the overall SMR of suicide was 1.49 (95%CI: 1.46-1.53) times higher than that of the general population in the US. The risk of suicide varied significantly by cancer site, with the highest risk found in patients with malignant respiratory system cancer. Overall, we observed a significant downward trend in the suicide mortality rate among cancer patients. The cumulative incidence of suicide mortality among cancer survivors across four study periods exhibited significant statistical differences (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights the need for targeted suicide prevention efforts for cancer survivors, particularly those diagnosed with respiratory system cancer. The trend of declining suicide mortality rates among cancer survivors is promising, but continued efforts are needed to understand and address the underlying risk factors.

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BACKGROUND: Suicide was an important cause of death in prostate cancer. This study intended to investigate trends in suicide mortality among prostate cancer (PCa) survivors from 1975 to 2019 in the United States. METHOD: We identified PCa survivors from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program from January 1975 to December 2019. Standardized mortality rate (SMR) was calculated d to assess the relative risk of suicide in PCa survivors compared with the general men population. Poisson regression model was performed to test for trend of SMRs. The cumulative mortality rate of suicide was calculated to assess the clinical burden of suicide mortality. RESULTS: 7108 (0.2%) cases were death from suicide cause, and 2,308,923(65.04%%) cases recorded as dying from non-suicidal causes. Overall, a slightly higher suicide mortality rate among PCa survivors was observed compared with general male population (SMR: 1.15, 95%CI: 1.09-1.2). The suicide mortality rate declined significantly relative to the general population by the calendar year of diagnosis, from an SMR of 1.74(95%CI: 1.17-2.51) in 1975-1979 to 0.99(0.89-1.1) in 2015-2019 (Ptrend < 0.001). PCa survivors with aged over 84 years, black and other races, registered in registrations (including Utah, New Mexico, and Hawaii) failed to observe a decrease in suicide mortality (Ptrend > 0.05). The cumulative suicide mortality during 1975-1994 was distinctly higher than in 1995-2019(P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The trend in suicide mortality declined significantly from 1975 to 2019 among PCa survivors compared with the general male population in the United States. Notably, part of PCa survivors had no improvement in suicide mortality, and additional studies in the future were needed to explore it.

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The rate of suicide among people with HIV (PWH) remains elevated compared to the general population. The aim of the study was to examine the association between a broad range of risk factors, HIV-specific risk factors, and suicide. We conducted a nested case-control study using data from the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS) between 2006 and 2015. The risk of suicide was estimated using conditional logistic regression and models were stratified by HIV status. Most risk factors associated with suicide were similar between PWH and people without HIV; these included affective disorders, use of benzodiazepines, and mental health treatment. Among PWH, HIV-specific risk factors were not associated with suicide. A multiplicative interaction was observed between a diagnosis of HIV and a previous suicide attempt. Among PWH, a high prevalence of psychiatric, substance use disorders and multimorbidity contribute to the risk of suicide.

RESUMEN: La tasa de suicidio entre las personas con VIH (PWH) sigue siendo elevada en comparación con la población general. El objetivo del estudio fue examinar la asociación entre un amplio rango de factores de riesgo, los riesgos específicos del VIH y el suicidio. Realizamos un estudio anidado de casos y controles usando datos del Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS) entre 2006­2015. El riesgo de suicidio fue estimado mediante regresión logística condicional y los modelos se estratificaron por estado serológico. La mayoría de los factores de riesgo asociados con el suicidio fueron similares entre las PWH y las personas sin VIH; estos incluyeron trastornos afectivos, uso de benzodiazepinas y tratamiento de salud mental. Entre las PWH, los factores de riesgo específicos del VIH no se asociaron con el suicidio. Se observó una interacción multiplicativa entre un diagnóstico de VIH y un intento de suicidio previo. Entre las PWH, una alta prevalencia de trastornos psiquiátricos, por consumo de sustancias y multimorbilidad contribuyen al riesgo de suicidio.

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OBJECTIVE: Individuals with substance use disorders and overdoses have high risk of suicide death, but evidence is limited on the relationship between interventions following the initial overdose and subsequent suicide death. METHODS: National Medicare data were used to identify Medicare disability beneficiaries (MDBs) with inpatient or emergency care for non-fatal opioid overdoses from 2008 to 2016. Data were linked with National Death Index (NDI) to obtain dates and causes of death for the sample. Cox proportional hazards models estimated the associations between exposure to interventions (mechanical ventilation, MOUD) and suicide death. RESULTS: The sample (n = 81,654) had a suicide rate in the year following a non-fatal overdose of 566 per 100,000 person-years. Post-overdose MOUD was associated with an adjusted hazard ratio of 0.20 (95%CI: 0.05,0.85). Risk of suicide was elevated for those whose initial overdoses required mechanical ventilation as part of the treatment (aHR: 1.86, 95%CI:[1.48,2.34]). CONCLUSIONS: The year following a non-fatal opioid overdose is a very high-risk period for suicide among MDBs. Those receiving MOUD had an 80% reduction in the hazards of suicide, while those whose overdose treatment involved mechanical ventilation had 86% higher hazards of death by suicide. Our findings highlight the importance of psychiatric intervention in this high-risk population. Efforts are needed to initiate and retain more patients in MOUD.

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In Japan, suicides had consistently decreased before the COVID-19 pandemic (from 2009-2019), but conversely increased after the pandemic outbreak (from 2020-2022). To identify the features of fluctuations of suicides in Japan, the standardized suicide mortality rates per 100,000 population (SMRP) disaggregated by gender (males/females) and age (10-year cohorts) from 2009-2022 were analyzed using interrupted time-series and joinpoint regression analyses. Temporal causalities from unemployment rate (CUR) disaggregated by unemployment duration and reasons for seeking work to SMRP were analyzed using vector autoregressive modelling with Granger causality analysis. SMRP fluctuations from 2009-2022 were composed of three patterns, such as positive discontinuity (increasing) synchronized with the pandemic outbreak, attenuations of decreasing trends before the pandemic, turning from decreasing before the pandemic to increasing/unchanging after the pandemic outbreak. Dismissal CUR positively related to SMRP of working-age generations, whereas voluntary CUR negatively related to SMRP of younger population (<30 years), which turned to persistently increasing before the pandemic (approximately 2016-2017). CUR shorter than 3 months positively related to SMRP of working-age females, which displayed promptly increasing synchronization with the pandemic outbreak. CUR longer than 12 months positively related to SMRP of working-age males, which contributed to persistently increasing SMRPs during the pandemic. These results suggest that increasing SMRP during 2020-2022 in Japan has been probably at-tributed to interactions among the pandemic-related factors, continuous vulnerabilities from before the pandemic and newly developing risk factors for suicides during the pandemic. Unexpectedly, increasing SMRPs of working-age males in 2022 suggest that either prolongation of the pandemic or the ending of the pandemic might positively affect suicides in Japan.

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OBJECTIVE: Examine demographic, psychosocial, pregnancy-related, and healthcare utilisation factors associated with suicide mortality among reproductive age women. METHODS: Data from nine health care systems in the Mental Health Research Network were included. A case-control study design was used in which 290 reproductive age women who died by suicide (cases) from 2000 to 2015 were matched with 2,900 reproductive age women from the same healthcare system who did not die by suicide (controls). Conditional logistic regression was used to analyse associations between patient characteristics and suicide. RESULTS: Women of reproductive age who died by suicide were more likely to have mental health (aOR = 7.08, 95% CI: 5.17, 9.71) or substance use disorders (aOR = 3.16, 95% CI: 2.19, 4.56) and to have visited the emergency department in the year prior to index date (aOR = 3.47, 95% CI: 2.50, 4.80). Non-Hispanic White women (aOR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.51, 0.97) and perinatal (pregnant or postpartum) women were less likely to have died by suicide (aOR = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.13, 0.58). CONCLUSIONS: Reproductive age women with mental health and/or substance use disorders, prior emergency department encounters, or who are of racial or ethnic minority status were at increased risk of suicide mortality and may benefit from routine screening and monitoring. Future research should further examine the relationship between pregnancy-related factors and suicide mortality.

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The epidemiological data of suicide rate, protective and risk factors is required to evaluate suicide losses, to develop appropriate interventions and to determine their effectiveness. Despite stable decreasing trend in suicide rates over the past three decades, the burden of suicides is determined by loss of young working-age population. In the post-Soviet Russia, fluctuations in suicide mortality indicators are associated with complicated periods of social economic transformations and radical changes of public policy. The risk factors also include economically depressive territories of residence, unemployment, psychoactive substance abuse, childhood and adolescence, family ill-being, incarceration, particular professional groups, physical illnesses, etc. The review established researchers' aspirations for topics improving understanding of suicide risk factors in population of Russia and needs of vulnerable groups. Such works are to result in better strategies of suicide prevention and development of new crisis care technologies. They identify problems in program implementation and provide important stimulus for determining global priorities in research and development areas.

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PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To systematically examine changes in suicide trends following the initial COVID-19 outbreak, focusing on geographical and temporal heterogeneity and on differences across sociodemographic subgroups. RECENT FINDINGS: Of 46 studies, 26 had low risk of bias. In general, suicides remained stable or decreased following the initial outbreak - however, suicide increases were detected during spring 2020 in Mexico, Nepal, India, Spain, and Hungary; and after summer 2020 in Japan. Trends were heterogeneous across sociodemographic groups (i.e., there were increases among racially minoritized individuals in the US, young adults and females across ages in Japan, older males in Brazil and Germany, and older adults across sex in China and Taiwan). Variations may be explained by differences in risk of COVID-19 contagion and death and in socioeconomic vulnerability. Monitoring geographical, temporal, and sociodemographic differences in suicide trends during the COVID-19 pandemic is critical to guide suicide prevention efforts.

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Objective: China has undergone tremendous social changes in the last few decades. This study aimed to research the trends of the suicide rates from 2002 to 2019, and to differentiate effects attributable to age, period, and cohort by gender and residence in China. Methods: Suicide mortality data were obtained from China's Ministry of Health Vital Registration System. Joinpoint regression model was used to estimate the average annual percentage change (AAPC) of the suicide rates and ratios by gender and residence. The age-period-cohort framework was performed to analyze the underlying mechanisms for suicide mortality trends. Results: Over the observation period, the significant decrease in suicide mortality rates in China for the economic development and urbanization was observed but to different degrees across gender and regional subgroups. The male-to-female ratio of suicide rates increased year by year (AAPC: 1.9%, 95% CI: 0.2% to 3.7%) while the urban-rural ratio changed little (AAPC: 0.9%, 95% CI: -1.8% to 3.7%). The age-period-cohort analysis revealed a marked increased effect of age and overall decreased effect of both period and cohort on suicide mortality rates. However, the recent cohort has presented an inversely increasing effect. Conclusion: The suicide rate has fallen sharply in China which has undergone tremendous socioeconomic changes. The varied changes in the suicide rate of different residence-, gender-, and age-groups as well as the age, period, and cohort effect on suicide risk further indicate the relationship of development and the suicide rates may be neither static nor identical on different subgroups in a rapidly changing society.