Observational studySocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2021
1324 prison suicides in 10 countries in South America: incidence, relative risks, and ecological factors.
Observational study in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Risk factors for suicide in prisons: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The Lancet. Public health · 2021Pooled it
- Suicide prevention in Latin American prisons: a multiple case study with meta-matrix of policies, programmes and protocols in 17 countries.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- The association between health and prison overcrowding, a scoping review.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Incidence, ecological factors, and temporal trends of prison homicides and suicides in Chile, 2000-2024.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Risk factors of suicide in prisons: a comprehensive retrospective cohort study in France, 2017-2020.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Article
- The mental wellbeing of female prisoners in Chile.BMC research notes · 2023Article
- All-cause and cause-specific mortality during and following incarceration in Brazil: A retrospective cohort study.PLoS medicine · 2021Article
- Epidemiology, Risk Factors, and Prevention of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviour in Prisons: A Literature Review.Psychologica Belgica · 2021Review
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeAlthough suicide rates of prison populations and incidence factors have been reported for high-income countries, data from low- and middle-income regions are lacking. The purpose of the study was to estimate suicide rates among prison populations in South America, to examine prison-related factors, and to compare suicide rates between prison and general populations.
methodsIn this observational study, we collected the numbers of suicides in prison, rates of prison occupancy, and incarceration rates from primary sources in South America between 2000 and 2017. We compared suicide rates among prisoners with incidence rates in the general populations by calculating incidence rate ratios. We assessed the effect of gender, year, incarceration rates and occupancy on suicide rates in the prison populations using regression analyses.
resultsThere were 1324 suicides reported during 4,437,591 person years of imprisonment between 2000 and 2017 in 10 South American countries. The mean suicide rate was 40 (95% CI 16-65) per 100,000 person years for male and female genders combined. The pooled incidence rate ratio of suicide between prison and general populations was 3.9 (95% CI 3.1-5.1) for both genders combined, 2.4 (95% CI 1.9-3.1) for men and a higher ratio in women (13.5, 95% CI 6.9-26.9). High occupancies of prisons were associated with lower incidence of suicide (β = - 58, 95% CI - 108.5 to - 7.1).
conclusionsSuicides during imprisonment in South America are an important public health problem. Suicide prevention strategies need to target prison populations.
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