Suicide a killer among young Chinese

LONDON, England -- Suicide is the leading cause of death among young Chinese, with women and girls particularly at risk, new research shows.

One in five Chinese who died between the ages of 15 and 34 had taken their own life, research reported in the Lancet medical journal, based on Chinese ministry of health data for 1995-1999, showed.

But suicide is a politically sensitive topic in China, and it is often reported as accidental death, so these figures may just show the tip of the iceberg.

American and Chinese researchers say in the journal that suicide is China's fifth biggest killer, accounting for 3.6 percent of all deaths.

China was one of a very few countries where more women kill themselves than men, Michael Phillips from Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts and Li Xianyun and Zhang Yanping of Beijing's Hui Long Guan hospital, said.

Rates of suicide were 25 percent higher for women than for men.

'Self-harm'

"What is unique about China is that the sex difference in completed suicide rates is largely driven by the very high rate of suicide in young rural women," they said.

Almost three out of ten deaths among women and girls aged between 15-34 years, were suicides. Among males of the same age it was one in eight.

The study suggested the higher number of female suicides was a result of attempts at self-harm, which are much more common among women than men worldwide.

The availability of strong pesticides and a lack of doctors and nurses in the countryside meant death was often the result, even though many female victims may not have intended to die.

Elderly take own lives

But elderly people from rural areas were the most likely to take their own lives, with more than twice as many suicides per head of population than among young women.

"Given the high status accorded to the elderly in Chinese culture, this finding is particularly noteworthy," the authors said.

The suicide rate in rural areas is one of the highest in the world. Some 80 percent of Chinese live in the countryside, but account for 93 percent of all suicides.

With no strong religious or legal prohibitions on suicide, and a lack of social welfare systems, China may have fewer safety nets than other countries.

"People with serious mental disorders or chronic life stressors (such as incurable illness) might consider suicide an acceptable method of relieving their misery or reducing the financial and emotional burden they cause their family," the authors said.

The Chinese burden is part of a wider regional problem.

Over a thousand people commit suicide in East Asia and the Western Pacific every day, the World Health Organization said late last year.

"Rapid social change is associated with rising stress," the WHO said in its 2001 report on the problem of mental health in the Western Pacific.

The number of people who kill themselves as a result of mental stress is growing at an alarming rate, due to increased rates of depression, anxiety and alcohol and drug abuse, the report said.