HR, 95%% CI aMultivariate model: including all methods in the model: poisoning, hanging, firearm, cutting, jumping and other methods.
We considered the variables ethnic group (indigenous, non-indigenous), sex (male, female), suicide method (hanging, firearm use, cutting, poisoning, jumping from a height, and others), and month and day of the week suicide occurred and compared data from the NAO with national data.
37 38 This may be due to substitution of methods (eg, hanging) for firearms, especially after 1996 when the availability of firearms dropped in Australia.
The consumption of insecticides (poisoning) (Argo et al. (2010)), hanging and firearms are the most common means of suicide globally, but many other methods are used with the choice of method, often varying according to population group such as age-group, gender, profession, social status, educational status, etc.
Intensified aftercare is warranted after suicide attempts involving hanging, drowning, firearms or explosives, jumping from a height, or gassing.
Given their high lethality, it is not surprising that rates of hanging and firearms were higher for suicide than for suicide attempts.
For those aged 55 years and older, suicide rates by hanging and firearms remained more stable than for those aged 54 years and younger over the study period.
The sex discrepancy identified in this review may in part be explained by a propensity for men to use more lethal methods such as hanging and firearms, whereas the most common method used by women was poisoning.
For both suicides and suicide attempts females generally had higher rates of poisoning than males, whereas males were more likely than females to use violent methods such as hanging and firearms.
The most violent suicide methods, such as hanging and firearm use, tend to be common in indigenous populations [ 11– 11].
