PARASUICIDE IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES

This article gives an account of some findings of the WHO/EURO multice ntre study on parasuicide from the five Nordic centres: Helsinki (Finl and), Stockholm (Sweden), and the counties of Funen (Denmark), Sor-Tro ndelag (Norway) and Vasterbotten (Sweden). For parasuicide patients tr eated in hospital in these five Nordic centres, the parasuicide rates per 100,000 inhabitants per annum were 222 for women, 213 for men and 224 for both sexes combined. In all the Nordic centres except Helsinki , women had higher parasuicide rates than men. The female/male parasui cide ratio was 1.16 for all Nordic centres. The highest parasuicide ra tes in the whole material were found in Helsinki, Stockholm and Funen, and the lowest in Sor-Trondelag and Vasterbotten. The highest parasui cide rates lay in the 30-39 age interval, i.e. the peak of parasuicide rates was in older age groups than previously reported. Single people , especially divorcees and those who have never been married, constitu te a high-risk group in both sexes. The risk of parasuicide for single men in three times that for married men in all the Nordic centres exc ept Sor-Trondelag, where the risk is five times higher. The parasuicid e risk for single women is twice as high as for married women except f or women in Funen, where the risk for single and married women is almo st equal. Exceptionally high parasuicide rates are also reported for F innish citizens in Sweden, compared with Finns from the Helsinki centr e. Parasuicide rates appear to be correlated with population density, since the densely populated areas of Helsinki, Stockholm and Funen evi nce higher parasuicide rates than the sparsely populated areas of Sor- Trondelag and Vasterbotten.