美國：中年白人女性自殺率增長顯著

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.

研究人員於本週二發佈的一項研究報告稱，目前美國的總體自殺率呈上升趨勢，其中中年白人女性的自殺率增長尤爲顯著。

研究人員發現，從1999年至2005年，美國的自殺率總體上升，不過增長“模式”發生了明顯變化。

巴爾的摩約翰•霍普金斯大學的研究小組發現，美國的總體自殺率在這一期間增長了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%。

從事傷害及自殺預防研究的蘇珊•貝克教授說：“這一階段女性的服毒自殺率增長最爲顯著，達到57%。”

貝克教授、胡國慶教授及其同事們在研究報告中指出，研究結果主要基於對美國疾病防控中心的死亡證明資料的分析。該研究報告在《美國預防醫學期刊》上發表。

貝克在一份聲明中稱：“研究結果突出了自殺流行病學的一個變化，中年白人女性正在成爲一個新的自殺高危羣體。”

自殺是美國的第十一大死因。貝克稱，這些變化是實質性的。

她在電話採訪中說：“顯然，這些並不是暫時的小波動，而是整個人口的大變化。”

她說，中年人羣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。不過近年來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爲6.3%和2.3%。

今年一月公佈的一項國際研究顯示，年輕人、單身人羣、女性、受教育水平較低者以及精神病患者是幾個主要的自殺高危人羣。

據世界衛生組織統計，全球自殺率在過去的45年中上升了60%。而抑鬱症是自殺的首要誘因。

Vocabulary:

blip: A temporary or insignificant phenomenon, especially a brief departure from the normal:暫時現象，短時間偏離正常