ArticlePloS one2015
The impact of improving suicide death classification in South Korea: a comparison with Japan and Hong Kong.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Fatal intentional drowning in Australia: A systematic literature review of rates and risk factors.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- Risk of Suicide and Self-harm Is Increased After Bariatric Surgery-a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Obesity surgery · 2019Pooled it
- The recent trend in youth suicide and its associated factors in South Korea: a time series analysis.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2026Article
- Suicide Risk Among Patients With Cancer by Sex in Japan: A Population-based Study.Journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Understanding the Fluctuations in Korea's Suicide Rates: A Change-Point Analysis and Interrupted Time Series Analysis.Journal of Korean medical science · 2024Article
- Age- and cause-specific contributions to increase in life expectancy at birth in Korea, 2000-2019: a descriptive study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Classification of suicidal behavior calls in emergency medical services: a systematic review.International journal of emergency medicine · 2023Review
- Is suicide underreported? Evidence from Japan.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2022Article
- Risks of suicide among family members of suicide victims: A nationwide sample of South Korea.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Spain's suicide statistics: do we believe them?Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2021Article
- Risk of Suicide Attempt after Thyroidectomy: A Nationwide Population Study in South Korea.Psychiatry investigation · 2021Article
- Quantifying the contributions of age, sex, methods, and urbanicity to the changing suicide rate trends in South Korea, 2001-2016.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2020Article
- Trends in pesticide suicide in South Korea, 1983-2014.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2019Article
- Pattern of intentional drowning mortality: a total population retrospective cohort study in Australia, 2006-2014.BMC public health · 2019Article
- The influence of undetermined deaths on suicides in Shanghai, China.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2019Article
- The Burden of Acute Pesticide Poisoning and Pesticide Regulation in Korea.Journal of Korean medical science · 2018Article
- Age, Period, and Cohort Effects on Suicide Mortality in South Korea, 1992⁻2015.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Article
- Air Pollution and Suicide in 10 Cities in Northeast Asia: A Time-Stratified Case-Crossover Analysis.Environmental health perspectives · 2018Article
- Discerning suicide in drug intoxication deaths: Paucity and primacy of suicide notes and psychiatric history.PloS one · 2018Observational
- High stress, lack of sleep, low school performance, and suicide attempts are associated with high energy drink intake in adolescents.PloS one · 2017Article
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Abstract
introductionThe suicide rate of South Korea has increased dramatically during the past decades, as opposed to steadily decreasing trends in Japan and Hong Kong. Although the recent increase of suicide in South Korea may be related to changing socioeconomic conditions and other contextual factors, it may also reflect, in part, a reduction of misidentified suicide cases due to improving classification of manner of death.
methodWe compared the annual proportional change of suicide, undetermined death, and accidental death from South Korea with those of Japan and Hong Kong from 1992 to 2011; a greater proportional change of the manner-of-death categories during the period is indicative of a relatively less stable registration and hence a greater potential for misclassification bias on reported suicide trends. Subgroup analyses stratifying the deaths by methods were also conducted. To estimate the impact, the age-standardized rates of these three death categories in each site were calculated.
resultsWe found that, during the 20-year observation period, the proportional change of suicide, undetermined death, and accidental death in South Korea was significantly greater than Japan and Hong Kong. Similar observations were made in subgroup analyses. While death rates of the three manners in Japan and Hong Kong generally moved in a parallel fashion, the increase of suicide in South Korea occurred concomitantly with a significant reduction of its accidental death rate. 43% of the increase in suicides could be attributed to the decrease in accidental deaths, while 57% of the increase could be due to fundamental causes.
conclusionOur data suggest that, during the mid-1990s and after, the increasing burden of suicide in South Korea initially was masked, in part, by misclassification. Thus, the later apparently rapid increase of suicides reflected steadily improving classification of manner of death, as well as a more fundamental increase in the suicide rate.
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