To the Editor: Between 1997 and 2006, suicide rates fell in all mainland Australian states and territories.1 Despite a rise in the small-population jurisdictions of Tasmania (1997–2006)1 and an earlier rise in the Northern Territory (1981–2002),2 the overall unadjusted national suicide rate has fallen steadily, from 14.7 per 100 000 in 1997 to 9.06 per 100 000 in 2006, the year for which the most recent statistics are available.
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- 1. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Causes of death, Australia, 2006. Suicides. Table 4.5: Suicide, state and territory, number of deaths, standardised death rate, sex, 1997–2006. (ABS Cat. No. 3303.0.) http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/3303.02006?OpenDocument (accessed Oct 2008).
- 2. Measey ML, Li SQ, Parker R, Wang Z. Suicide in the Northern Territory, 1981–2002. Med J Aust 2006; 185: 315-319. <eMJA full text> <MJA full text>
- 3. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Cause of death collection, 1975–1978 (ICD-8 codes E950–E959, Suicide and self-inflicted injury). ABS data available on request.
- 4. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Cause of death collection, 1979–1998 (ICD-9 codes E950–E959, Suicide and self-inflicted injury). ABS data available on request (accessed Apr 2008).
- 5. NSW Health. Suicide in New South Wales. We need to know more — the NSW suicide data report. Sydney: NSW Health, 2000. http://www.health.nsw. gov.au/pubs/2004/suicidedata0504.html (accessed Dec 2008).
Steven Lackersteen was supported by a grant from Janssen-Cilag.