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Ethnicity and suicide in England and Wales: a national linked cohort study
The Lancet Psychiatry, Volume: 11, Issue: 8, Pages: 611 - 619
Swansea University Author:
Ann John
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© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
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DOI (Published version): 10.1016/s2215-0366(24)00184-6
Abstract
Background Our understanding of ethnic disparities in suicide in England and Wales is limited as ethnicity is not recorded on death certificates. Using linked data, we examined variations, by sex, in suicide rates in England and Wales by ethnicity and migrant/descendant status.Methods Using the Offi...
| Published in: | The Lancet Psychiatry |
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| ISSN: | 2215-0366 |
| Published: |
Elsevier BV
2024
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66712 |
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| Abstract: |
Background Our understanding of ethnic disparities in suicide in England and Wales is limited as ethnicity is not recorded on death certificates. Using linked data, we examined variations, by sex, in suicide rates in England and Wales by ethnicity and migrant/descendant status.Methods Using the Office for National Statistics mortality (2012-2019) linked 2011 census data from the Public Health Research Database (PHRD), we calculated the age-standardised suicide rates by sex for each of the 18 self-identified ethnicity groups. We present rates by age, sex, and methods used for suicide by ethnic group. We estimated age and sex adjusted incidence rate ratios using Poisson regression models for each ethnic minority group compared to the majority population. We involved people with lived experience in the research.Findings 31,644 suicide deaths occurred over the study period with 3602 (11%) in people from ethnic minorities. The mean age of death in ethnic minority groups was x (range x-x , standard deviation x). Almost all ethnic minority groups had a lower rate of suicide than the White-British majority, apart from individuals who identified as being from a Mixed heritage background or Gypsy/Irish Travellers. In females who identified as Mixed White/Caribbean or Gypsy/Irish Travellers, the rate of suicide was 79% (IRR 1.79 95% CI 1.45, 2.21) and two times (IRR 2.26 95% CI 1.42, 3.58) higher than the White-British majority, respectively. While rates in males identifying as from these two groups were similar to the White-British majority. Compared to the non-migrant population, migrants had a lower rate of suicide regardless of ethnicity, but in the descendent population Mixed heritage descendants had a higher risk of suicide. Interpretation There are ethnic disparities in suicide mortality in England and Wales, but the reasons for this are unclear. The lower rate of suicide in most ethnic minority groups may reflect a genuinely lower risk or differences in the classification of suicide. The higher rate in previously overlooked ethnic minority groups warrants further attention. For some it may be driven by a greater suicide risk in descendent populations (i.e., potentially ethnic minority British born individuals), rather than migrants and, for those from Mixed heritage background, by experiences of liminality and identity invalidation. |
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| College: |
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |
| Funders: |
DK was supported by the Wellcome Trust through an Institutional Strategic Support Fund Award to the University of Bristol [204813/Z/16/Z] and the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research, University of Bristol. NK is supported by Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust and the NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Research Collaboration. AJ was supported by MRC DATAMIND [MR/W014386/1] |
| Issue: |
8 |
| Start Page: |
611 |
| End Page: |
619 |