• Diego De Leo, Jerneja Sveticic, and Allison Milner.
• Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention, 176 Messines Ridge Road, Mount Gravatt Campus, Griffith University, Mount Gravatt 4122 Queensland, Australia.
• Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2011 Jul 1;45(7):532-8.

ObjectiveSuicide among Indigenous Australians is a well-recognized public health issue. Due to scarcity of epidemiological investigations in this area the exact size of this problem and its main characteristics remain uncertain. In this paper we present trends and methods of Indigenous suicides based on the Queensland Suicide Register for the period 1994-2007.MethodsTrends of age-standardized suicide rates were calculated for Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. Suicide methods were compared between the two groups, with particular focus on hanging. Discriminant analysis was used to ascertain the size of under-estimation of suicide rates due to a considerable number of cases with unknown ethnicity in the Queensland Suicide Register.ResultsBetween 1994 and 2007, Indigenous populations had suicide rates 2.2 times higher than non-Indigenous Australians. Age-specific suicide rates for Indigenous men were highest in the 25-34 age group, while in women they were highest among 15-24 year olds. In children younger than 15 years, Indigenous suicide rate was almost ten times higher than of non-Indigenous counterparts. More than 90% of Indigenous suicides occurred by hanging. It was estimated that lack of information about ethnicity for 7% of suicide cases might have caused an under-estimation of Indigenous suicide mortality for 15.4% in men and 9.1% in women in the period 1994-2007.ConclusionsSuicide mortality of Indigenous Australians has reached alarming levels, particularly among youths. The unique profile of Indigenous suicides indicates the need for specifically tailored preventative programmes.

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