Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2012 Mar;9(3):924-31.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph9030924. Epub 2012 Mar 15.

Suicide mortality in comparison to traffic accidents and homicides as causes of unnatural death. An analysis of 14,441 cases in Germany in the year 2010

Karoline Lukaschek  1 , Natalia Erazo, Jens Baumert, Karl-Heinz Ladwig
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Suicide mortality in comparison to traffic accidents and homicides as causes of unnatural death. An analysis of 14,441 cases in Germany in the year 2010

Karoline Lukaschek et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2012 Mar.

Abstract

Aim: To assess suicide mortality in comparison to traffic accidents and homicide deaths in Germany in the year 2010 and to compare years of life lost (YLL) due to these unnatural deaths.

Methods: Mortality data were provided by the Federal Statistical Office giving death rates (related to 100,000 inhabitants) and proportions (related to 100 deaths of individuals) for suicide, traffic accidents and homicide as well as YLL data.

Results: A total of 14,441 unnatural deaths (suicide, traffic accidents, homicide) were reported in 2010 in Germany. Of those, 10,021 subjects (69.4%) committed suicide, 3,942 (27.3%) died in traffic accidents, 478 (3.3%) were murdered. Suicide death rates were by far the highest, with rates for men (18.6) three times higher than for women (6.1). For both sexes, suicide rates increased with age, whereas suicide as a proportion of all causes of death was higher in younger age groups. In both sexes, suicide was the leading cause of YLL (men: 314 YLL, women: 90 YLL).

Conclusions: Suicide is the leading cause of unnatural death and YLL. The sex- and age- specific patterns in suicide mortality call for different action plans to target high risk groups.

Keywords: Germany; homicide; suicide; suicide prevention; traffic accidents; unnatural death; years of life lost.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Event rates (per 100,000 inhabitants) and proportions (per 100 deaths of all causes of death) of suicide, traffic accidents, and homicide in Germany (2010), stratified by sex and age.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Grabauskas V., Gaizauskiene A., Sauliune S., Miseikyte R. Trends in avoidable mortality in Lithuania during 2001-2008 and their impact on life expectancy. Medicina (Kaunas.) 2011;47:504–511. - PubMed
    1. Nolte E., McKee M. Does Health Care Cave Lives? Avoidable Mortality Revisited. The Nuffield Trust; London, UK: 2004.
    1. Pfeiffer C., Windzio M., Kleinmann M. Die Medien, das Böse und wir. Zu den Auswirkungen von Mediennutzung auf Kriminalitätswahrnehmung (in German). Monatsschrift für Kriminologie und Strafrechtsreform. 2004;6:415–435.
    1. 4. Federal Statistical Office of Germany Home Page. [(accessed on 13 March 2012)]. Available online: http://www.gbe-bund.de.
    1. Aragon T.J., Lichtensztajn D.Y., Katcher B.S., Reiter R., Katz M.H. Calculating expected years of life lost for assessing local ethnic disparities in causes of premature death. BMC Public Health. 2008;8:116. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types